DEC 31 b GOLD CLOSED UP $20.60 TO $2625.90//SILVER IS STILL BEING CONTROLLED BY THE CROOKS AS IT WAS DOWN 14 CENTS TO $28.85//PLATINUM WAS DOWN $1.10 TO $908.75 WHILE PALLADIUM WAS UP $12.15 TO $915.70//GOLD COMMENTARY TODAY FROM ALASDAIR MACLEOD AND CHRIS POWELL OF GATA//ISRAEL VS HOUTHIS/ISRAEL VS HAMAS/ISRAEL VS HEZBOLLAH: ALL UPDATES//COVID UPDATES/VACCINE INJURY REPORTS/DR PAUL ALEXANDER/SLAY NEWS ETC//USA ECONOMIC NEWS; USA CREDIT CARD DEFAULTS SOAR//SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT///
072 H GOLDMAN 306 118 C MACQUARIE FUT 25 118 H MACQUARIE FUT 217 323 C HSBC 457 363 C WELLS FARGO SEC 51 363 H WELLS FARGO SEC 268 435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 137 657 C MORGAN STANLEY 96 124 657 H MORGAN STANLEY 667 661 C JP MORGAN 346 661 H JP MORGAN 352 686 C STONEX FINANCIA 30 12 726 C PLUS500US FINAN 1 730 C PTG DIVISION SG 123 732 C RBC CAP MARKETS 30 737 C ADVANTAGE 39 19 905 C ADM 18
TOTAL: 1,659 1,659
JPMorgan stopped 0/103
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR JANUARY/2024. CONTRACT: 1659 NOTICES FOR 165,900 OZ 5.160 TONNES
total notices so far: 1659 contracts for 165,900 Oz (5.160 tonnes)
FOR JANUARY
SILVER NOTICES: 978 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 4,890,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 978 for 4.890 million oz
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END
GLD/
BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE FRAUDULENT VEHICLES//THEY ARE NOW RAIDING GLD AND SLV FOR PHYSICAL
THE CROOKS ARE STEALING GOLD AND SILVER FROM THE GLD/SLV AND REPLACING THE PHYSICAL WITH PAPER DOLLARS.
WITH GOLD UP $20.60 INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD:
NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:
INVENTORY RESTS AT 872.52 TONNES
SLV/
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER DOWN $0.14 AT THE SLV: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:
INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.
CLOSING INVENTORY: 460.512 MILLION OZ
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI ROSE BY A HUGE SIZED2396CONTRACTS TO 148,513 AND CONTINUING ON ITS MARCH TO THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020, AND THIS STRONG SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR LOSS OF $0,39 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX WITH RESPECT TO MONDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A HUGE GAIN OF 2925 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE//MONDAY’S TRADING.. WE HAD CONSIDERABLE LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. CONTRACTS ON MONDAY COMEX TRADING AS THEY DESPERATELY TRIED TO CONTAIN SILVER’S PRICE RISE FOR THE PAST 2 WEEKS WHERE THE RAIDS WERE CALLED UPON AGAIN TO QUELL MASSIVE DERIVATIVE LOSSES BY OUR BULLION BANKS. THEY SUCCEEDED A BIT WITH //MONDAY PRICING BUT ZERO LONGS WERE KNOCKED OFF. DERIVATIVE LOSSES CONTINUE TO MOUNT. AWE HAD CONSIDERABLE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION AND MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION MONDAY AS THE CROOKS EXCITED THESE MANIPULATIVE TRADES.
WE HAD A 528 CONTRACT EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE ACCOMPANIED BY A HUGE 952 CONTRACT T.A.S ISSUANCE WHICH WILL BE USED IN TUESDAY;S TRADING AS THEY PLAY AN INTEGRAL PART IN OUR COMEX TRADING TRYING TO CONTAIN ANY SILVER PRICE RISE. IN ESSENCE WE GAINED A HUGE SIZED 2925 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE. WE HAD CONSIDERABLE TAS LIQUIDATION THROUGHOUT FRIDAY’S COMEX SESSION COUPLED WITH MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION. THREE WEEKS AGO, WE RECEIVED NOTICE OF .5000 MILLION OZ ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK/ THIS WILL BE ADDED TO THE PREVIOUS EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE OF .66 MILLION OZ/NEW EXCHANGE FOR RISK TOTALS FOR THE MONTH: 1.16 MILLION OZFOR DEC TRADING.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CROOKS NEED A HIGHER SILVER/GOLD T.A.S. TO CARRY ON THEIR CROOKED MANIPULATION ON A DAILY BASIS BUT DEMAND IS JUST TOO HIGH FOR THEM. THE HIGHER ISSUANCE OF T.A.S. IS NOW USED TO TEMPER OUR SILVER/GOLD PRICE RISE OR RAID AS WHAT HAPPENED SEVERAL TIMES LAST MONTH AND AGAIN YESTERDAY.
CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT THAT THE CROOKS USE THE MID MONTH FOR MANIPULATION AS THEY SELL THEIR BUY SIDE OF THE CALENDAR SPREAD FIRST AND THEN KEEP THE SELL SIDE TO LIQUIDATE AT A LATER DATE. THUS WE HAVE TWO VEHICLES THE CROOKS USE FOR MANIPULATION AND BOTH ARE SPREADERS: 1) AT MONTH’S END/SPREADERS COMEX AND 2/ TAS SPREADERS, MID MONTH. TOTAL TAS ISSUED ON TUESDAY NIGHT: A HUGE 952 CONTRACTS. DESPITE MANY COMPLAINTS THAT THE CROOKS HAVE VIOLATED POSITION LIMITS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE TAS ISSUED HAVE A VALUE OF ZERO (AS TO POSITION LIMITS FOR OUR CROOKED BANKERS). THE PROBLEM OF COURSE IS THAT THE CROOKS DO NOT LIQUIDATE THE TAS TOGETHER BUT SELL THE BUY SIDE FIRST AND THEN LIQUIDATE THE SELL SIDE TWO MONTHS HENCE. IT IS OBVIOUS MANIPULATION TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE BUT IT NATURALLY FELL ON DEAF EARS WITH OUR REGULATORS (OCC) WHEN THEY RECEIVED OUR COMPLAINTS. IT NOW SEEMS THAT THE OCC HAS ORDERED THE BANKS TO REDUCE ITS NEW LEVEL OF 1 TRILLION DOLLARS IN GOLD/SILVER DERIVATIVES AND THUS THE REASON FOR CONSTANT RAIDS ESPECIALLY WITH YESTERDAY’S TRADING. IT ALSO LOOKS LIKE THE FED (GOV’T) IS BEHIND EVERY DAY TRADING.
WE HAVE IN THE PAST YEAR SET ANOTHER RECORD LOW AT 114,102 CONTRACTS ///JULY 3.2023// OUR BANKERS WITH THE HELP OF SPECULATORS AND HIGH FREQUENCY TRADERS WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT FELL BY $0.39) AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OFF ANY APPRECIABLE NET SILVER LONGS FROM THEIR PERCH AS WE HAD A HUGE GAIN IN PRICE DESPITE MASSIVE SPREADER/TAS LIQUIDATION.
WE HAD A 528 CONTRACT ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 8.110 MILLION OZ (FIRST DAY NOTICE)
// STANDING FOR SILVER//JAN TO 8.110 MILLION OZ
WE HAD:
/ HUGE SIZED COMEX OI GAIN +// 528 SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/ VI) HUGE SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 952 CONTRACTS)/
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL: REMOVED 105 CONTRACTS.
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS DEC. ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF DEC
TOTAL CONTRACTS for 21 DAYS, total 26,508 contracts: OR 132.54 MILLION OZ (1219 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 132.54 MILLION OZ
LAST 24 MONTHS TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED IN MILLIONS OF OZ:
MAY 137.83 MILLION
JUNE 149.91 MILLION OZ
JULY 129.445 MILLION OZ
AUGUST: MILLION OZ 140.120
SEPT. 28.230 MILLION OZ//
OCT: 94.595 MILLION OZ
NOV: 131.925 MILLION OZ
DEC: 100.615 MILLION OZ
YEAR 2022:
JAN 2022-DEC 2022
JAN 2022// 90.460 MILLION OZ
FEB 2022: 72.39 MILLION OZ//
MARCH 2022: 207.140 MILLION OZ//A NEW RECORD FOR EFP ISSUANCE
APRIL: 114.52 MILLION OZ FINAL//LOW ISSUANCE
MAY: 105.635 MILLION OZ//
JUNE: 94.470 MILLION OZ
JULY : 87.110 MILLION OZ
AUGUST: 65.025 MILLION OZ
SEPT. 74.025 MILLION OZ///FINAL
OCT. 29.017 MILLION OZ FINAL
NOV: 134.290 MILLION OZ//FINAL
DEC, 61.395 MILLION OZ FINAL
TOTALS YR 2022: 1135.767 MILLION OZ (1.1356 BILLION OZ)
JAN 2023/// 53.070 MILLION OZ //FINAL
FEB: 2023: 100.105 MILLION OZ/FINAL//MUCH STRONGER ISSUANCE VS THE LATTER TWO MONTHS.
MARCH 2023: 112.58 MILLION OZ//FINAL//STRONG ISSUANCE
APRIL 111.035 MILLION OZ(SLIGHTLY GREATER THAN THAN LAST MONTH)
MAY 66.120 MILLION OZ/INITIAL (MUCH SMALLER THIS MONTH)
JUNE: 110.395 MILLION OZ//MUCH LARGER THAN LAST MONTH
JULY 85.745 MILLION OZ (SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)
AUGUST: 171.43 MILLION OZ (THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE HUGE //2ND HIGHEST ON RECORD
SEPT: 72.705 MILLION OZ (SMALLER THIS MONTH)
OCT: 97.455 MILLION OZ
NOV. 50.050 MILLION OZ
DEC. 66.140 MILLION OZ//
TOTAL 2023: 1,104.10 MILLION OZ/
JAN ’24 : 78.655 MILLION OZ//
FEB /2024 : 66.135 MILLION OZ./FINAL
MARCH: 143.750 MILLION OZ// 4TH HIGHEST ON RECORD.
APRIL: 161.770 MILLION OZ (THIS MONTH WILL BE A WHOPPER OF ISSUANCE OF EFPS//3RD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED FOR A MONTH)
MAY: 135.995 MILLION OZ //WILL BE A STRONG MONTH FOR EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
JUNE 110.575 MILLION OZ ( WILL BE ANOTHER STRONG MONTH ISSUANCE)
JULY: 108.870 MILLION OZ (WILL BE A STRONG ISSUANCE MONTH/ A TOUCH OVER 100 MILLION OZ/)
AUGUST; 99.740 MILLION OZ//THIS MONTH WILL BE STRONG FOR ISSUANCE BUT LESS THAN JULY.
SEPT: 112.415 MILLION OZ//WILL BE A HUGE MONTH FOR EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
OCT; 97.485 MILLION OZ (WILL BE SMALLER ISSUANCE THIS MONTH )
NOV. 115.970 MILLION OZ ( HUGE THIS MONTH)
DEC: 132.54 MILLION OZ (THIS MONTH WILL BE A HUMDINGER FOR ISSUANCE BUT ISSUANCE SLOWED DRAMATICALLY THESE PAST FIVE DAYS/// WILL NOT EXCEED MARCH 2022 RECORD OF 209 MILLION OZ
YEAR 2024 TOTAL: 1363.84 MILLION OR 1.363 BILLIONOZ
RESULT: WE HAD AN HUGE SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 2396 CONTRACTS DESPITE OUR HUGE LOSS IN PRICE OF SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//MONDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A 528 EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 528 ISSUED FOR MARCH AND 528 CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS) WHICH EXITED OUT OF THE SILVER COMEX TO LONDON AS FORWARDS. WE HAVE A GOOD INITIAL SILVER OZ STANDING FOR DEC OF 8.110 MILLION OZ ON FIRST DAY NOTICE,
//NEW TOTAL STANDING FOR JAN AT 8.110 MILLION OZ
WE HAVE A HUGE SIZED GAIN OF 2925 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE…..THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A HUGE 952 CONTRACTS TRYING DESPERATELY TO CONTAIN SILVER’S PRICE RISE,//CONSIDERABLE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE MONDAY COMEX SESSION ALONG WITH MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION// . BUT THEY STILL NEED THESE ISSUANCE FOR REPLENISHMENT FOR FUTURE TRADING /THE HUGE TA.S. ISSUANCE// STRONG LIQUIDATION DISTORTS THE TOTAL OI CONTRACTS STANDING AT THE COMEX. NO NET LONG SPECULATORS WERE BURNED ON MONDAY WITH THE GAIN IN PRICE. ALSO SOME OF OUR LONGS EXERCISED THEIR RIGHT AND TENDERED FOR PHYSICAL SILVER MUCH TO THE ANGER OF OUR BANKERS. SILVER IS NOT BASEL III COMPLIANT SO THE BANKERS CAN TAKE THEIR TIME WITH THE DELIVERY OF SILVER.
THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE MONDAY NIGHT (952) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE, AND PROBABLY NOT TODAY.
WE HAD 978 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 4,890,000 OZ
THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.
GOLD//OUTLINE
IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A FAIR SIZED 2416 OI CONTRACTS TO 450,970 AND FURTHER FROM THE RECORD (SET JAN 24/2020) AT 799,733 AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: (SET JAN 6/2020) AT 797,110, BUT WE ARE NOW MUCH FURTHER FROM OUR ALL TIME LOW OF 390,000 CONTRACTS.
THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI IN GOLD TODAY: REMOVED A SMALL SIZED 213 CONTRACTS//
WE HAD A FAIR SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI (2416 CONTRACTS) OCCURRED DESPITE OUR LOSS OF $11.95 IN PRICE MONDAY. THE FRBNY SUPPLIED THE NECESSARY SHORT PAPER.. WE ALSO HAD A GOOD INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR JAN AT 10.1331 TONNES
/NEW STANDING 10.1331 TONNES
/ ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $11.95 LOSS IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO MONDAY’S COMEX ///. WE HAD A STRONG GAIN OF 6394 OI CONTRACTS (19.888 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES, WITH MANY LONGS, REMAINING AT THE END OF THE DAY, TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL GOLD VIA THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ROUTE, MUCH TO THE ANGER AND HORROR EXHIBITED BY OUR MAJOR BANKER, THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK. THE HORROR INTENSIFIED ONCE LONDON STARTED TO TRADE LAST WEEK, AND THROUGHOUT THE WEEK WITH MAJOR TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL VIA THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ROUTE! YOU CAN VISUALIZE THIS WITH THE VIOLENT ACTION AT THE COMEX WITH RESPECT TO QUEUE JUMPING WHICH WILL CONTINUE WITH THURSDAY’S TRADING
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A STRONG SIZED 3720 CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 451,183
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 6192 CONTRACTS WITH 2416 CONTRACTS INCREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A STRONG SIZED 3729 EFP OI CONTRACT ISSUANCE WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 6192 CONTRACTS.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): A STRONG SIZED BUT CRIMINAL 1945 CONTRACTS ISSUED. WE HAD A STRONG LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S CONTRACTS WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE MONDAY AS THE NEED FOR REPLENISHMENT WAS STILL IN ORDER TO CARRY OUT ITS PRICE CONTAINMENT STRATEGY IN FUTURE TRADING. WE ALSO HAD STRONG MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION FINALIZING THIS CRIMINAL OPERATION .
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD A STRONG SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (3720 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE FAIR SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI OF 2416 CONTRACTS/TOTAL GAIN FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 6192 CONTRACTS..WE HAVE 1) NOW RETURNED TO OUR FORMER FORMAT OF BANKERS GOING LONG AND SPECULATORS GOING SHORT ,2.) STRONG INITIAL STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR JAN 10.1331 TONNES
//NEW STANDING JAN: 10.1331 TONNES
/ 3) STRONG T.A.S. LIQUIDATION TRYING TO LOWER GOLD’S PRICE MONDAY WITH NO SUCCESS IN REMOVING SPECULATOR LONGS, AS WE HAD A 1) $11.95 PRICE LOSS, BUT 2) ZERO NET LONG SPECS BEING CLIPPED WITH OUR TOTAL GAIN OF 6394 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGS. WE ALSO HAD STRONG MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION AS WELL AS TAS LIQUIDATION.. HOWEVER, 3)STICKY GOLD’S LONGS ARE NOT FOOLED BY THE RAID IN PRICE AS THEY WERE REWARDED MONDAY EVENING AS THEY EXERCISED EFP’S FROM LONDON TO TAKE DELIVERY OF BADLY NEEDED PHYSICAL.
4) FAIR SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST INCREASE 5) STRONG ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///STRONG T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 1945 T.A.S.CONTRACTS//
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023-2024 INCLUDING TODAY
DEC
ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF DEC :
TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED: 115,752 CONTRACTS OF 11,572,000 OZ OR 348.466 TONNES IN 21 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 5858 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 21 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 360.03TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2023, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 360.03 DIVIDED BY 3550 x 100% TONNES = 10.14% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION
SEPT 142.12 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE ( LOW ISSUANCE)_
OCT: 141.13 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE (LOW ISSUANCE)
NOV: 312.46 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE//NEW RECORD!! (INCREASING DRAMATICALLY)//SIGN OF REAL STRESS//SURPASSING THE MARCH 2021 RECORD OF 276.50 TONNES OF EFP
DEC. 175.62 TONNES//FINAL ISSUANCE//
TOTALS: 2,578.08 TONNES/2021
JAN:2022 247.25 TONNES //FINAL
FEB: 196.04 TONNES//FINAL
MARCH/2022: 409.30 TONNES //FINAL( THIS IS NOW A RECORD EFP ISSUANCE FOR MARCH AND FOR ANY MONTH.
APRIL: 169.55 TONNES (FINAL VERY LOW ISSUANCE MONTH)
MAY: 247.44 TONNES FINAL//
JUNE: 238.13 TONNES FINAL
JULY: 378.43 TONNES FINAL/SECOND HIGHEST ON RECORD
AUGUST: 180.81 TONNES FINAL
SEPT. 193.16 TONNES FINAL
OCT: 177.57 TONNES FINAL ( MUCH SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)
NOV. 223.98 TONNES//FINAL ( MUCH LARGER THAN PREVIOUS MONTHS//comex running out of physical)
DEC: 185.59 tonnes // FINAL
TOTAL: 2,847,25 TONNES/2022
JAN 2023: 228.49 TONNES FINAL//HUGE AMOUNT OF EFP’S ISSUED THIS MONTH!!
FEB: 151.61 TONNES/FINAL
MARCH: 280.09 TONNES/INITIAL (ANOTHER STRONG MONTH FOR EFP ISSUANCE)
APRIL: 197.42 TONNES
MAY: 236.67 TONNES (A VERY STRONG ISSUANCE FOR THIS MONTH)
JUNE: 172.667 TONNES (WEAKER ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)
JULY: 151.69 TONNES (WEAKER THAN LAST MONTH)
AUGUST: 195.28 TONNES (A STRONGER MONTH)//FINAL
SEPT: 254.709 TONNES (WILL BE LARGER THAN LAST MONTH AND A STRONG MONTH)
OCT. 248.09 TONNES. LIKE SILVER, THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE A STRONG E.F.P. ISSUANCE.
NOV. 239.16 TONNES//WILL BE STRONG THIS MONTH,
DEC. 213.704 TONNES. A STRONG MONTH//
TOTAL FOR YEAR 2023: 2,569.57 TONNES VS 2578 TONNES LAST YEAR
JAN ’24: 291.76 TONNES (WILL BE MUCH GREATER THAN LAST MONTH.//3RD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL)
FEB’24: 201.947 TONNES
MARCH 2024: 352.21 TONNES//2ND HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EFP ISSUANCE.
APRIL: 267.05TONNES (WILL BE AN EXTREMELY STRONG MONTH BUT LESS THAN MARCH 2024)
MAY; 316.606 TONNES (WILL BE ANOTHER STRONG MONTH// 3RD HIGHEST RECORDED EFP ISSUANCE )// NOTICE THE HUGE INCREASES IN EX FOR PHYSICAL THESE PAST FEW MONTHS. THESE CONTRACTS ARE CIRCLED BACK FROM LONDON WHEREBY METAL IS REMOVED FROM THE COMEX.
JUNE 175.11 tonnes HEADING FOR A WEAKER MONTH AND MUCH LESS THAN THE THREE PREVIOUS MONTHS
JULY: 351. 65 TONNES (3RD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL AND THE HIGHEST EVER RECORDED POST BASEL III)
AUGUST: 274.79 TONNES//THIS MONTH WILL NO DOUBT BE A STRONG ISSUANCE OF EFP’S BUT MUCH LESS THAN LAST MONTH.
SEPT: 335 .104 TONNES//IF THIS CONTINUES WE WILL HAVE A HUMDINGER OF AN EFP ISSUANCE. WE WILL PROBABLY END JUST SHORT OF THE 3RD HIGHEST ISSUANCE EVER RECORDED.
OCT. 277.71 TONNES (THIS WILL BE A GOOD ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)
NOV: 393.875 TONNES ( A HUGE MONTH////NOW SURPASSED THE PREVIOUS 3RD AND 2ND HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EX FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE TO BECOME THE 2ND HIGHEST EVER RECORDED
DEC 360.03 TONNES THIRD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED FOR EFP ISSUANCE
TOTAL 2024 YEAR.3,597.846
SPREADING OPERATIONS
(/NOW SWITCHING TO GOLD) FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS
SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF FEB. WE ARE NOW INTO THE SPREADING OPERATION OF GOLD
HERE IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HOW THE CROOKS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING LONGS IN THE SPREADING ENDEAVOUR ;MODUS OPERANDI OF THE CORRUPT BANKERS AS TO HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR SPREAD OPEN INTERESTS:HERE IS HOW THE CROOKS USED SPREADING AS WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF NOV HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB., FOR GOLD: AND MARCH FOR SILVER
YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST STARTS TO RISE BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (OCT), AND THAT IS WHEN THE CROOKS SELL THEIR SPREAD POSITIONS BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY. THEY WILL USE THE SELL SIDE OF THE EQUATION TO CREATE THE CASCADE (ALONG WITH THEIR COLLUSIVE FRIENDS) AND THEN COVER ON THE BUY SIDE OF THE SPREAD SITUATION AT THE END OF THE DAY. THEY DO THIS TO AVOID POSITION LIMIT DETECTION. THE LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADING FORMATION CONTINUES FOR EXACTLY ONE WEEK AND ENDS ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.”
WHAT IS ALARMING TO ME, ACCORDING TO OUR LONDON EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE IS THAT THESE EFP’S ARE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WHAT ARE CALLED SERIAL FORWARD CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS AND THESE CONTRACTS ARE LESS THAN 14 DAYS. ANYTHING GREATER THAN 14 DAYS, THESE MUST BE RECORDED AND SENT TO THE COMPTROLLER, GREAT BRITAIN TO MONITOR RISK TO THE BANKING SYSTEM. IF THIS IS INDEED TRUE, THEN THIS IS A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD AS WE NOW WITNESS A MONSTROUS TOTAL EFP’S ISSUANCE AS IT HEADS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE.
The crooks also use the spread in the TAS account (trade at settlement). They buy the spot TAS (e.g. June) and sell the future TAS two months out (e.g. August). Then they unload the front month (i.e. unload the buy side first so the price of gold/silver falls. This occurs in the middle of the front delivery month cycle. They unload the sell side of the equation, two months down the road. The crooks violate position limits as the OCC refuse to hear our complaints.
First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:
1.TODAY WE HAD THE OPEN INTEREST AT THE COMEX IN SILVER ROSE BY A STRONG SIZED 2396 CONTRACTS OI TO 148,513 AND CLOSER TO THE COMEX HIGH RECORD //244,710( SET FEB 25/2020). THE LAST RECORDS WERE SET IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD TO THAT WAS SET ON APRIL 9/2018 AT 243,411 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS WITH THE SILVER PRICE AT THAT DAY: $16.53). AND PREVIOUS TO THAT, THE RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED AT: 234,787 CONTRACTS, SET ON APRIL 21.2017 OVER 7 YEARS AGO. HOWEVER WE HAVE NOW SET A NEW RECORD LOW OF 114,102 CONTRACTS JULY 3.2023
EFP ISSUANCE 529 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
DEC 529 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 529 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI GAIN OF 2396 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 529 E.FP. ISSUED
WE OBTAIN A STRONG SIZED GAIN OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 2925 CONTRACTS
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTALS A HUGE 15.15 MILLION OZ OCCURRED DESPITE OUR $0.39 LOSS IN PRICE
c) Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens
ii a) Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries
b. Other gold/silver commentaries
c. Commodity commentaries//
d)/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC
2.ASIAN AFFAIRS/TUESDAY MORNING MONDAY NIGHT
ASIA TRADING TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 56.28 PTS OR 1.63%
//Hang Seng CLOSED UP 18.53 PTS OR 0.09%
// Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 386.62 OR 0.74%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 0.89%
//Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) CLOSED DOWN TO 7.3408 CHINESE YUAN OFFSHORE CLOSED DOWN TO 7.3407// Oil UP TO 71.22 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT DOWN AT 73.91 Stocks in Europe OPENED MOSTLY GREEN
ONSHORE USA/ YUAN TRADING AT LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN WEAKER
1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A FAIR SIZED2416 CONTRACTS TO 450,970 DESPITE OUR CONSIDERABLE LOSS IN PRICE OF $11.95 WITH RESPECT TO MONDAY’S TRADING. WE LOST ZERO NET LONGS WITH OUR PRICE LOSS FOR GOLD. WE HAD, AS YOU WILL SEE BELOW, A STRONG NUMBER OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUED (3720). THUS WE HAD A STRONG GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 6192 CONTRACTS DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE. OUR FRIENDLY PHYSICAL LONDON BOYS HAD ANOTHER FIELD DAY AGAIN ON FRIDAY NIGHT AS THEY WERE READY FOR THE FRBNY.S CONTINUED ORCHESTRATED RAID AS THEY ABSORBED EVERYTHING IN SIGHT FROM THE DAILY ATTACKS WITH THE CONTINUAL LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. CONTRACTS. LONDONERS EXERCISED THEIR BOUGHT CONTRACTS FOR PHYSICAL GOLD VIA THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ROUTE AND THANKED THE FRBNY FOR THE THOUGHTFULNESS.
THE LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. CONTRACTS THROUGHOUT LAST MONTH CONTINUES TO DISTORT OPEN INTEREST NUMBERS GREATLY AND IT SURELY WAS ON DISPLAY THIS ENTIRE PAST WEEK ESPECIALLY WITH FRIDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD CONSIDERABLE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION ALL THIS WEEK AT THE COMEX AND THIS WAS COUPLED WITH MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION.
THE FED IS THE MAJOR SHORT OF AROUND 82+ TONNES OF GOLD OWING TO THE B.I.S. THE FED NEEDS TO COVER AS THEY ARE VERY WORRIED ABOUT WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO GOLD PRICES ONCE THE BRICS BEGIN THEIR INITIATIVE AND ABANDON THE US DOLLAR. THIS IS SCHEDULED TO HAPPEN LATE OCT 2024/(AS OUTLINED IN OUR GOLD PHYSICAL COMMENTARIES//VIEW ANDREW MAGUIRE LATEST LIVE FROM VAULT PODCAST 197 , 199, 2001, AND FRIDAY NIGHTS 202, 203 AND 204 AS HE TACKLES THIS IMPORTANT TOPIC). THE FOUR OR FIVE BANKS ARE ALSO WORRIED ABOUT THEIR HUGE PRECIOUS METAL DERIVATIVE EXPOSURE (NORTH OF ONE TRILLION DOLLARS) AND THIS IS PROBABLY THE MAJOR REASON FOR GOLD/SILVER’S RISE THESE PAST TWO MONTHS. THEY ARE TOTALLY TRAPPED., AND THEIR FAILURE TO STOP CENTRAL BANK PURCHASES OF PHYSICAL GOLD IS THE MAJOR ISSUE OF THE DAY! ACTUALLY THE FED HAS COAXED THE SPECULATORS TO GO MASSIVELY SHORT WHILE THEY TAKE THE LONG SIDE AFTER THEY COMMENCE THE AVALANCHE IN LOWERING THE PRICE OF GOLD LIKE THESE PAST 5 DAYS OF RAIDS.
OUR PHYSICAL LONDONERS BOUGHT NEW MASSIVE QUANTITIES OF LONGS AT ANY PRICE AND THIS GOLD BOUGHT WILL BE TENDERED FOR PHYSICAL ON A T + 1 BASIS. BECAUSE GOLD IS BASEL III COMPLIANT, GOLD MUST BE DELIVERED IN A VERY TIMELY ONE DAY. CENTRAL BANKS AROUND THE WORLD, BEING REPRESENTED BY OUR LONDONERS, ARE THE REAL PURCHASERS OF THIS GOLD.
THE PROBLEM FOR THOSE PROVIDING THE SHORT PAPER IS THE SHOCK TO THEM ON RECEIVING NOTICE THAT THE LONGS WANT THE PHYSICAL GOLD AS THEY TENDER FOR THAT SHINY YELLOW METAL. THE HIGH LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADERS // T.A.S DURING LAST WEEK IS SURELY DISTORTING COMEX OPEN INTEREST BUT THAT DOES NOT STOP LONDON’S ACCUMULATION OF PHYSICAL! YOU CAN ALSO VISUALIZE THAT PERFECTLY WITH THE HUGE AMOUNTS OF QUEUE JUMPING ORCHESTRATED BY CENTRAL BANKERS BOLTING AHEAD OF ORDINARY LONGS AS THEIR NEED FOR PHYSICAL IS GREAT AS THEY SCOUR THE PLANET LOOKING FOR GOLD
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW DEEP INTO THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF DECEMBER.… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A STRONG SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS A STRONG SIZED 3720 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : /DEC 3720 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 3720 CONTRACTS. THESE EFP;S CIRCLE AROUND LONDON ON A 13 DAY BASIS AND ARE NOW USED BY GLOBAL CENTRAL BANKS TO EXERCISE FOR PHYSICAL GOLD WITH THE OBLIGATION TO DELIVER BEING FORCED ONTO COMEX BANKS. THE GOLD DELIVERED COMES FROM LONDON.
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A STRONG SIZED TOTAL OF 6192 CONTRACTS IN THAT 3720 CONTRACT LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A FAIR GAIN OF 2416 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS STRONG GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $11.95 TUESDAY// COMEX. THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS WILL BE USED BY CENTRAL BANKS, TO EXERCISE FOR PHYSICAL GOLD AT THE COMEX AS MENTIONED ABOVE.
AS PER OUR NEWBIE TRADE AT SETTLEMENT (TAS) MANIPULATION OPERATION (WHICH CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT HAPPENS USUALLY DURING MID MONTH IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE), BUT NOW ON A DAILY BASIS, THE CME REPORTS THAT THE TOTAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE FOR MONDAY NIGHT WAS A FAIR SIZED SIZED 1945 CONTRACTS, AND THESE WILL BE USED TO REPLENISH SUPPLIES.. ALMOST ALL OF THE TRADING AND SUPPLY OF CONTRACTS WAS ORCHESTRATED BY GOVERNMENT (FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK).
THROUGHOUT THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, THE BANKERS CONTINUE TO SELL OFF THE LONG SIDE OF THE SPREAD (T.A.S.) WHICH OF COURSE CONTINUES TO MANIPULATE THE PRICE OF GOLD SOUTHBOUND. (THEY KEEP THE SHORT SIDE OF THE CALENDAR/T.A.S. SPREAD WHICH WILL BE LIQUIDATED IN DAYS HENCE//. IT SEEMS THAT OUR CROOKS ORCHESTRATED, ON MONDAY NOV 25, THEIR HUGE RAID TO LOWER THE PRICE OF GOLD TO MAKE THEIR COMEX BETS WHOLE ON OPTIONS EXPIRY WEEK AND THUS THE NEED FOR CONTINUAL STRONG T.A.S. ISSUANCE AND THEN LIQUIDATION (COUPLED WITH THE LIQUIDATION OF CALENDAR SPREADERS ). THE USE OF OUR TWO SPREADER MECHANISMS WERE OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE TO OUR CROOKS IN LATE NOVEMBER’S OPTIONS EXPIRY TRADING. WE HAD CONTINUAL T.A.S. AND FINAL MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION ESPECIALLY ON FRIDAY NOV 29 .THE LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. SUBSIDED QUITE DRAMATICALLY DURING THE FIRST WEEK AND A HALF OF DECEMBER BUT THAT DRAMATICALLY CHANGED THIS WEEK WITH CONSIDERABLE LIQUIDATION ALL WEEK COUPLED WITH MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION.
// WE HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING: DEC (95.1066 TONNES) WHICH IS HUGE FOR OUR ACTIVE DEC DELIVERY MONTH.
JANUARY” 10.1331 TONNES
HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 48 MONTHS OF 2021-2024:
DEC 2021: 112.217 TONNES
NOV. 8.074 TONNES
OCT. 57.707 TONNES
SEPT: 11.9160 TONNES
AUGUST: 80.489 TONNES
JULY 7.2814 TONNES
JUNE: 72.289 TONNES
MAY 5.77 TONNES
APRIL 95.331 TONNES
MARCH 30.205 TONNES
FEB ’21. 113.424 TONNES
JAN ’21: 6.500 TONNES.
TOTAL YEAR 2021 (JAN- DEC): 601.213 TONNES
YEAR 2022:
JANUARY 2022 17.79 TONNES
FEB 2022: 59.023 TONNES
MARCH: 36.678 TONNES
APRIL: 85.340 TONNES FINAL.
MAY: 20.11 TONNES FINAL
JUNE: 74.933 TONNES FINAL
JULY 29.987 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST:104.979 TONNES//FINAL
SEPT. 38.1158 TONNES
OCT: 77.390 TONNES/ FINAL
NOV 27.110 TONNES/FINAL
Dec. 64.000 tonnes
(TOTAL YEAR 656.076 TONNES)
2023:
JAN/2023: 20.559 tonnes
FEB 2023: 47.744 tonnes
MAR: 19.0637 TONNES
APRIL: 75.676 tonnes
MAY: 19.094 TONNES + 1.244 tonnes of exchange for risk = 20.338
JUNE: 64.354 TONNES
JULY: 10.2861 TONNES
AUGUST: 38.855 TONNES(INCLUDING .6842 EXCHANGE FOR RISK)
SEPT: 15.281 TONNES FINAL
OCT. 35.869 TONNES + 1.665 EXCHANGE FOR RISK =37.0355 tonnes
DEC. 47.073 + 4.634 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 51.707 TONNES
TOTAL 2023 YEAR : 436.546 TONNES
2024
JAN ’24. 22.706 TONNES
FEB. ’24: 66.276TONNES (INCLUDES 1.723 TONNES EX. FOR RISK)
MARCH: 18.8398 TONNES + 1.1695 EX FOR RISK = 20.093 TONNES
APRIL: 2024: 53.673TONNES FINAL
MAY/ 2024 8.5536 TONNES + 3.3716 TONNES EX FOR RISK/= 11.9325
JUNE; 95.578 TONNES. + 1.045 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK =96.623 THIS IS THE HIGHEST RECORDED GOLD STANDING SINCE AUGUST 2022
JULY: 11.692 TONNES
AUGUST 69.602 TONNES//FINAL STANDING
SEPT. 13.164 TONNES.
OCT 39.474 TONNES + + 20.917 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK =60.391 TONNES
NOV . 11.265 TONNES +4.665 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK/TUESDAY + 3.11 TONNES OF EX. FOR RISK/PRIOR = 19.0425 TONNES
DEC: 80.4230 TONNES PLUS DEC MONTH EXCHANGE FOR RISK TOTAL 14.6836 TONNES EQUALS 95.1066 TONNES
total year: 540.30 tonnes
January 2025: 10.1331 tonnes
THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT FELL BY $11.95/)//AND WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OFF A FEW NET SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE DID HAVE A FAIR GAIN IN OUR TWO EXCHANGES. AS EXPLAINED ABOVE WE HAD CONSIDERABLE T.A.S. SPREADER LIQUIDATION MONDAY COUPLED WITH MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION. WE ALSO HAD A FAIR T.A.S. ISSUANCE MONDAY NIGHT (TUESDAY MORNING), AS THE NEED FOR REPLENISHMENT WAS STILL EVER PRESENT. THIS COULD NOT STOP CENTRAL BANK LONGS, SEIZING THE MOMENT, EXERCISED AGAIN FOR PHYSICAL IN A BIG WAY TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL MONDAY EVENING.
EXCHANGE FOR RISK
19 DAYS AGO, FRIDAY NIGHT (EARLY SATURDAY MORNING NOV 30) THE CME ANNOUNCED ANOTHER OF THOSE CRAZY DELIVERIES: THE ISSUANCE OF 250 EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACTS WHICH TOTAL 25000 OZ (.7776 TONNES. HERE THE BUYER ASSUMES THE RISK THAT HE WILL BE DELIVERED UPON IN PHYSICAL METAL. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE AND A HUGE VIOLATION OF THE TRUE DISCOVERY PRICE MECHANISM WHICH IS THE COMEX MANTRA!. AND THEN GUESS WHAT? THE CME ANNOUNCED ANOTHER EXCHANGE FOR RISK, LATE TUESDAY EVENING/ EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING, (DEC 5) OF 617 CONTRACTS FOR 61,700 OZ OR GOLD (1.919 TONNES). THEN MUCH TO MY ANGER, THE CME ANNOUNCED A THIRD ISSUANCE FRIDAY NIGHT DEC 7 FOR A MONSTROUS 2254 EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACTS OR 225,400 OZ OR 7.0108 TONNES. NOT TO BE UNDONE, THE CROOKS CONTINUED WITH THEIR NONSENSE WITH ANOTHER 50 CONTRACT EXCHANGE FOR RISK THE MORNING OF DEC 12 FOR 5000 OZ OR .1555 TONNES. AND THIS BRINGS US TO THIS EARLY FRIDAY MORNING (DEC 13) WHERE I WAS SHOCKED TO SEE FOR THE FIFTH TIME THIS MONTH AN ENTRY FOR 250 CONTRACTS OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR 25000 OZ OR .7776 TONNES.THUS ALL FIVE OF THESE ISSUANCES WILL BE ADDED TO THE TOTAL GOLD BEING “DELIVERED UPON”. THIS BRINGS US TO EARLY SATURDAY MORNING DEC 21 WHERE TO MY SHOCK AGAIN WE HAD OUR 6TH ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK TOTALLING 1300 CONTRACTS FOR AN ASTOUNDING 4.043 TONNES. THIS BRINGS THE TOTAL ISSUANCE FOR THE MONTH TO 14.6836 TONNES. THE COMEX IS TOTALLY SHATTERED TO PIECES.
TOTAL DELIVERIES
WE HAVE GAINED A TOTAL OF 19.25 PAPER TONNES FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR JAN (10.133TONNES) ON FIRST DAY NOTICE
The total for January which is a non delivery month is as follows:
3258 notices for January at 100 oz per notice = 325800 oz or
10.1131 TONNES (NORMAL DELIVERY) +
/ STANDING FOR JAN 10.1331 TONNES
NEW STANDING FOR JAN: 10.1331 TONNES (WHICH IS HUGE FOR OUR VERY ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH)
ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $11.95
WE HAD 1065 CONTRACTS ADDED TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)//PRELIMINARY TO FINAL.
NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 6394 CONTRACTS OR 639,400 OZ (19.885 TONNES)
a)Into HSBC 32,151.000 (1000 kilobars) b) Into Brinks: 48,290.802 oz (1502 kilobars) c) Into Loomis: 32,151.000 (1000 kilobars) d) Into ASAHI 96,453.000 OZ (3000 Kilobars)
total deposit 209,045.8 oz (6,502 kilobars) 6.502 tonnes
No of oz served (contracts) today
1659 notice(s) 165,900 OZ 5.160 TONNES
No of oz to be served (notices)
1599 contracts 1599 OZ 4.9235 TONNES
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
1659 notices 165,900 oz 5.160 TONNES
Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month
NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month
x
dealer deposits: 1
i) Into Brinks dealer: 16,011.198 (498 kilobars)
total dealer deposits: 16,011.198 kilobars
we have 4 customer deposits
a)Into HSBC 32,151.000 (1000 kilobars) b) Into Brinks: 48,290.802 oz (1502 kilobars) c) Into Loomis: 32,151.000 (1000 kilobars) d) Into ASAHI 96,453.000 OZ (3000 Kilobars)
total deposit 209,045.8 oz (6,502 kilobars) 6.502 tonnes
strictly a paper gold entry.
total for the last 6 days; north of 76.402 tonnes of kilobars
withdrawals: 1
i) Out of Brinks 64,302.000 oz (2000 kilobars)
adjustments: 2 customer to dealer
a) JPMorgan: 14,134.980 oz
b) Manfra: 45,294.853 oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DEC.
For the front month of JAN: we have an oi of 3258 contracts having LOST 524 contracts.
Thus by definition the initial amount of gold that is
3251 contracts x 100 oz per contract = 325800 oz or 10.1331 tonnes
FEBRUARY LOST 332 CONTRACTS TO 327,365 .
We had 1659 contracts filed for today representing 165,900 oz
FEBRUARY had a loss of 258 contracts down to 327,439 contracts
March gained 2800 contracts up to 60,840 contracts
This is a huge major assault on the comex for gold and this time it is physical that will be requested.
Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer and 382 notices issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 1659 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 12 notice(s) was (were) stopped (received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account
To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for JAN /2025. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (1659 x 100 oz ) to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of JAN(3258 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today (1659 x 100 oz per contract( equals 325,800 OZ OR 10.1331 TONNES.
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the JAN contract month: No of notices filed so far (1659 x 100 oz +we add the difference for front month of JAN (3258 OI} minus the number of notices served upon today (1659 x 100 oz which equals 325,800 oz (10.1331 TONNES)
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR JAN.: 10.1331 TONNES WHICH IS HUGE FOR THIS NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR.
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 21,900,748.629 OZ
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 8,946,828.167/// 278.288 tonnes).
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 12,953.920.462 OZ
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 6,831,273 oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD)= 212.481 tonnes //
JPMorgan enhanced inventory is 3.592 million oz/1,877,000 oz = 19.15% of entire inventory..
END
SILVER/COMEX
DEC 31. 2024
INITIAL
//2024// THE JAN 2025 SILVER CONTRACT//INITIAL
Silver
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory
NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
769,715.440 oz
HSBC Loomis
.
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
NIL
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
i) Into Asahi: 327,628.500 oz ii) Into Brinks: 1195,564.290 oz iii) Into CNT 569,565.000 oz total: 2,092,757.290 oz
No of oz served today (contracts)
978 CONTRACT(S) (4,890,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)
644 contracts (3.220 MILLION oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)
978 Contracts (4.890 MILLION oz)
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month
NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month
i) 0 dealer deposit/
total dealer deposit : nil oz
i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal
total dealer withdrawals: 0 oz
We had 3 customer deposits
a) Into Asahi: 327,628.500 oz
b) Into Brinks 1,195,564.290 oz
c) Into CNT 569,565.000 oz
total customer deposit 2,092,757.290 oz
We had 2 withdrawals
a) Out of HSBC 100,066.520 oz
b) Out of Loomis 669,648.920 oz
total withdrawal 769,715.440 oz
JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 135.532million oz/318.618million or 42.52%
adjustments:0
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 72.365MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 318.618 million oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR JANUARY
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF JAN /2024 OI: 1622 OPEN INTEREST FOR A LOSS OF 148 CONTRACT(S).
THUS BE DEFINITION THE INITIAL AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING FOR JANUARY EQUALS
1622 CONTRACTS X 5000 OZ PER CONTRACT = 8.110 MILLION OZ
FEBRUARY SAW A GAIN 0F 116 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 638
MARCH SAW A GAIN OF1271 CONTRACTS UP TO 118,607
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 978 for 4,890,000 oz
CONFIRMED volume; ON MONDAY 40,729 awful//
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in JAN we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 978x 5,000 oz = 4.890 MILLION oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of JAN (1622) and the number of notices served upon today (978)x (5000 oz)
Thus the standings for silver for the JAN 2024 contract month: 978 Notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of JAN(1672) minus number of notices served upon today (978)x 5000 oz equals silver standing for the JAN contract month equating to 8.110 MILLION OZ.
New total standing: 46.990 million oz.
There are 72.365 million oz of registered silver.
The record level of silver open interest is 234,787 contracts set on April 21./2017 with the price on that day at $18.42. The previous record was 224,540 contracts with the price at that time of $20.44.
Now that we have surpassed $28.40 the next big line in the sand for silver is $34.76. After that the moon
END
BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE MASSIVE FRAUDS!
GLD AND SLV INVENTORY LEVELS//
DEC 31 WITH GOLD UP $20.60 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:: ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 872.52 TONNES
DEC 30 WITH GOLD DOWN $11.95 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.28 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD : ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 872.52 TONNES
DEC 27 WITH GOLD DOWN $17.10 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.15 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD : ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 872.80 TONNES
DEC 26 WITH GOLD UP $17.55 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: : ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 873.95 TONNES
DEC 24 WITH GOLD UP $6.10 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.45 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD. / // : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 873.95 TONNES
DEC 23 WITH GOLD DOWN $13,75 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A DEPOSIT OF 16.66 TONNES OF GOLD VAPOUR GOLD INTO THE GLD. / // : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 877.40 TONNES
DEC 20 WITH GOLD UP $29,75 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.16 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. / // : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 860.74 TONNES
DEC 19 WITH GOLD DOWN $45.00 ON THE DAY; SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF .29 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. / // : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 863.90 TONNES
DEC 18 WITH GOLD DOWN $8.40 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: / // : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 864.19 TONNES
DEC 17 WITH GOLD DOWN $6.85 ON THE DAY; SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 0.23 TONNES INTO THE GLD / // : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 864.19 TONNES
DEC 16 WITH GOLD DOWN $2.80 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.70 TONNES INTO THE GLD / // : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 863.90 TONNES
DEC 13 WITH GOLD DOWN $24.55 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.78 TONNES INTO THE GLD / // : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 868.60 TONNES
DEC 12 WITH GOLD DOWN $34.00 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.59 TONNES INTO THE GLD / // : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 873.38 TONNES
DEC 11 WITH GOLD UP $29.75 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: // : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 870.79 TONNES
DEC 9 WITH GOLD UP $31.10 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD. // : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 871.94 TONNES
DEC 6 WITH GOLD UP $6.60 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD. A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.71 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD// : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 871.94 TONNES
DEC 5 WITH GOLD DOWN $26.80 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD./ : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 873.65 TONNES
DEC 4 WITH GOLD UP $6.15 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.31 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD./ : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 873.65 TONNES
DEC 3 WITH GOLD UP $10.30 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.59 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD./ : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 875.96 TONNES
DEC 2 WITH GOLD DOWN $20.20 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD : .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.55 TONNES
NOV 29 WITH GOLD UP $16.00 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD : Z WITHDRAWAL OF .86 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD . .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.55 TONNES
NOV 27 WITH GOLD UP $18.05 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD : . .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.41 TONNE
NOV 26 WITH GOLD UP $3.80 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD : A DEPOSIT OF 1.44 TONNES OF GOLDINTO THE GLD. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.41 TONNES
GLD INVENTORY: 872.52 TONNES, TONIGHTS TOTAL
SILVER
DEC 31 WITH SILVER DOWN 14 CENTS //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 460.512 MILLION OZ
DEC 30 WITH SILVER DOWN 39 CENTS //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: // A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.13 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 460.512 MILLION OZ
DEC 27 WITH SILVER DOWN 24 CENTS //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: // //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 461.651 MILLION OZ
DEC 24 WITH SILVER UP 2 CENTS //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 463.747 MILLION OZ
DEC 23 WITH SILVER UP 19 CENTS //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/////A DEPOSIT OF 6.15 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 463.747 MILLION OZ
DEC 20 WITH SILVER UP 43 CENTS //SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/////A DEPOSIT OF 183,000 OZ INTO THE SLV //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 457.597 MILLION OZ
DEC 19 WITH SILVER DOWN 25 CENTS //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV///// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 457.414 MILLION OZ
DEC 18 WITH SILVER DOWN 19 CENTS //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.094 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 457.414 MILLION OZ
DEC 17 WITH SILVER DOWN 12 CENTS //SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 0.456 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 458.052 MILLION OZ
DEC 16 WITH SILVER DOWN 0 CENTS //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.84 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 458.052 MILLION OZ
DEC 13 WITH SILVER DOWN 46 CENTS //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF .536 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 462.892 MILLION OZ
DEC 12 WITH SILVER DOWN 94 CENTS //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 5.787 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 463.428 MILLION OZ
DEC 11 WITH SILVER UP 10 CENTS //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 2.597 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 469.215 MILLION OZ
DEC 10 WITH SILVER DOWN 8 CENTS //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.868 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 471.812 MILLION OZ
DEC 9 WITH SILVER UP $0.91 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.367 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 473.680 MILLION OZ
DEC 6 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.00 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 4.329 MILLION OZ/// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 475.047 MILLION OZ
DEC 5 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.23 //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV” /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 470.718 MILLION OZ
DEC 4 WITH SILVER UP 26 CENTS //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV”: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.206 MILLION OZ FORM THE SLV. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 470.718 MILLION OZ
DEC 3 WITH SILVER UP 59 CENTS //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 472.924 MILLION OZ
DEC 2 WITH SILVER DOWN 19 CENTS //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV. A WITHDRAWAL OF 1,458,000 OZ FROM THE SLV. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 472.924 MILLION OZ
NOV 29 WITH SILVER UP 51 CENTS //SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV. A WITHDRAWAL OF 365,000 OZ FROM THE SLV. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 474.382 MILLION OZ
NOV 27 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.25 //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV.. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 474.747 MILLION OZ
NOV 26 WITH SILVER UP $0.10 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:.A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.094 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV./.. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 474.747 MILLION OZ
CLOSING INVENTORY 460.512 MILLION OZ//
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES
1/ PETER SCHIFF/SCHIFF GOLD/MIKE MAHARRY
END
2/ Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens
Alasdair Macleod
Alasdair Macleod: A year in review for gold and silver
Submitted by admin on Mon, 2024-12-30 12:35 Section: Daily Dispatches
By Alasdair Macleod GoldMoney, Toronto Friday, December 27, 2024
Gold rose and silver rose moderately in quiet trading during Christmas week. In early morning European trading today, spot gold was $2627, up $34 from last Friday’s close and silver at $29.70 was up 20 cents.
Close examination of price timelines during the week showed a tendency for both metals to rise modestly during Asian trading hours, with a loss of direction in European and American hours. This suggests that Asians are still quietly accumulating physical bullion if it becomes available over the Christian holiday season.
One surprise is that option expiry for Comex January contracts passed with barely a ripple. The explanation surely is that the decline in prices during December conveniently made calls with strikes above $2,600 for gold and $29.50 for silver worthless, benefiting establishment sellers. This pressure is now behind us and all else being equal we can reasonably expect prices to rebound in January.
For the record, gold rose 26.5% and silver 25.25% since 1 January, which compares with the S&P 500 Index, which rose 26.6%. These are the comparisons likely to be made by investment allocators, who will probably conclude dismissively that there was little advantage in increasing allocations toward precious metals. That could turn out to be complacent with respect to 2025. …
— researcher and author Stuart Englert noted the opposition by Arthur Burns, then chairman of the Federal Reserve Board
That opposition remains especially noteworthy today because of some details in Burns’ testimony to Congress about gold legalization on December 5, 1974, testimony Englert this week called to your secretary/treasurer’s attention:
Burns’ opposition was weak as he framed it himself — mainly a matter of fear that if private gold ownership became legal again, Americans suddenly might move all their savings into the metal, sparking speculation in silver and commodities and a wave of inflation. Burns saved his true concern about the legislation for the end of his testimony.
Burns wrote:
“The risks associated with a reopening of the gold market extend also to the exchange value of the dollar in international markets. Apart from sales by the Treasury, any substantial demand for gold by our citizens would have to be met by gold imports. The consequence might be a worsening of our international balance of trade and downward pressures on the dollar in foreign exchange markets.
“These pressures on the dollar could, of course, be checked by sales of gold from our nation’s monetary reserves. But there are risks associated also with this course of action.
“Since the precise role of gold in the international monetary system is yet to be determined, it would hardly be desirable to dispose of any sizable part of our reserve assets. Clearly, therefore, various adverse consequences for our financial markets and our economy may stem from a reopening of the gold market at the end of this month. No one can now say with any confidence how serious these consequences are likely to be.
The risks associated with private ownership of gold are, however, postponeable, and I see no material advantage to the nation in incurring these risks under present circumstances. …
“We should be ready, nevertheless, to make prudent use of the Treasury’s holdings if demands for gold threaten to have adverse economic or financial consequences.
“For example, if large imports of gold exerted significant downward pressure on the exchange value of the dollar, prices of imported products would rise, and this would tend to worsen our inflationary problem. Sales from the Treasury’s gold stock could lessen this difficulty, and I therefore endorse the Treasury’s intention to auction 2 million ounces of gold early in January.”
That is, Burns first told Congress that gold would compete with the dollar as a currency and store of value, and, second, that this would compel the U.S. government to try to defeat the competition by intervening in the gold market to knock the price down, as by strategic sales from the U.S. gold reserve.
Contrast Burns’ begrudging candor in 1974 with the assertion made early this month by his latest successor as Fed chairman, Jerome Powell: that gold and bitcoin compete with each other but not with the dollar:
What has changed since 1974 to prevent gold from competing with and potentially disciplining the dollar’s excesses?
Nothing at all.
What has changed is only that the highest government officials now regularly lie about gold, and that the most important financial news organizations now refuse to ask critical questions about government policy on gold.
Even a single critical question could explode the whole racket.
For example, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission could be asked whether it has jurisdiction over manipulative futures trading in the monetary metals undertaken by or at the behest of the U.S. government, or whether such manipulative trading is outside the commission’s jurisdiction and perfectly legal.
GATA and U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, R-West Virginia, repeatedly have put that question to the commission and have repeatedly been refused an answer:
Unfortunately the New York Times, Washington Post, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal, along with all other mainstream financial news organizations, have not yet dared to ask and to report the answer or refusal to answer.
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. CPowell@GATA.org
end
In year-end review, mining entrepreneur Eric Sprott thinks banks will ‘get out of the way’ in 2025
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2024-12-27 23:06 Section: Daily Dispatches
11:06p ET Friday, December 27, 2024
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
In Sprott Money’s year-end review, Craig Hemke interviews mining entrepreneur Eric Sprott about signs of extreme tightness in the physical gold market, the naked shorting of junior mining shares in Canada, and his belief that the bullion banks will “get out of the way” of gold and silver prices in the new year.
They also discuss the prospects for six mining companies of which Sprott has a good opinion.
The discussion is 57 minutes long and can be viewed at YouTube here:
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. CPowell@GATA.org
end
Stuart Englert: A toast to 50 years of legalized gold
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2024-12-27 12:05 Section: Daily Dispatches
By Stuart Englert Friday, December 27, 2024
Gold enthusiasts can celebrate a golden anniversary on New Year’s Eve and simultaneously mark a market manipulation milestone.
Fifty years ago, President Gerald R. Ford legalized private gold ownership, allowing Americans once again to stack the regal metal as a wealth-preserving asset and safe haven against monetary inflation and dollar depreciation. Gold futures trading and market meddling also began in the United States a half-century ago.
On Dec. 31, 1974, Ford issued an executive order revoking President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933 decree that criminalized gold hoarding and prohibited American citizens from owning more than $100 worth (about 5 troy ounces at the time) of the demonetized metal. President Ford signed the order without celebratory remarks or public fanfare. He simply released an official statement citing the legal authority he had to take the action. …
Support GATA financially and get a 1-ounce silver round commemorating our work
Submitted by admin on Sat, 2024-12-28 17:57 Section: Daily Dispatches
5:56p ET Saturday, December 29, 2024
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
Longstanding Western central bank policy of monetary metals price suppression has never been more vulnerable than it is today.
Governments and central banks around the world have been defecting from the policy this year, accumulating gold and silver instead of lending them.
And some countries — those associated with the BRICs group — are even thinking about creating an international currency with which they can avoid the U.S. government and the dollar and protect their sovereignty against U.S. economic sanctions.
Shorting gold through derivatives is no longer a sure mechanism for profit. To the contrary, the practice now threatens to blow up the governments, central banks, and associated banks still using it.
Documenting, litigating against, and complaining about monetary metals price suppression for 25 years, GATA has alerted investors, governments, mining companies, and news organizations around the world. No one in the monetary metals sector denies metals price suppression any longer; most people in the sector take it for granted even as most remain too scared to discuss it lest they risk getting in trouble with their governments and banks.
The U.S. Treasury Department, its Exchange Stabilization Fund, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Bank for International Settlements have turned out not to be “conspiracy theories” but actual conspiracies in operation. If you don’t believe us, try attending their meetings. There are reasons they won’t let you in — reasons defining “conspiracy.”
But the struggle against monetary metals price suppression has not yet been won, and we need your help.
GATA is still the only organization in the world devoted to waging the struggle for free and transparent monetary metals markets, which is a struggle for limited and accountable government generally.
Advancing this cause takes resources. It doesn’t happen on its own.
But if you help GATA today, we have something special for you.
Our friends at Money Metals Exchange in Eagle, Idaho, support our struggle so much that they have minted a beautiful 1-ounce silver round honoring GATA — and they want you to have at least one.
On the front of the round is an engraving copied from the GATA painting by Alain Despert, depicting GATA as a modern-day Don Quixote leading a march of gold and silver advocates on the U.S. Treasury Department building in Washington:
The back of the round shows the torch of liberty breaking the chains of price suppression and recognizing gold and silver as the crucial defenders of liberty:
You can purchase the GATA commemorative silver round from Money Metals Exchange for around $34 here:
But if you’d like to help GATA directly, each donation of $250 to GATA will entitle the donor to one of these silver rounds, which GATA will arrange to have shipped to the donor from Money Metals Exchange, which is now the operator of the largest precious metals depository in the United States west of New York, a depository larger than even Fort Knox.
Your gift today will propel GATA’s important work, and we’ll be very grateful for it.
We just need to remind donors that the metal value of each of the rounds they receive as thanks for their donation must be subtracted from federal tax-deductibility of their contribution to GATA. For example, with the silver round priced at $34, a $250 donation made to GATA would be federally tax-deductible for $216.
Of course these silver rounds are likely to increase in value along with the silver price in the years ahead — another reason to consider supporting GATA this way.
So please consider making a donation to GATA right now — today — especially now that this special 25th anniversary GATA silver round is available to memorialize it.
To donate, please mail a check payable to GATA to:
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. c/o Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer 7 Villa Louisa Road Manchester, Conn. 06043-7541 USA
Please include your e-mail address so we can thank you without incurring the time and expense of surface mail. And if you’re donating $250 or more, please let us know your shipping address so we can speed the silver round on its way to you.
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. CPowell@GATA.org
* * *
GATA is grateful to these companies for their recent support:
Apollo Silver Corp. Barksdale Resources Dolly Varden Silver Corp. Dryden Gold Corp. Group Eleven Resources IBK Capital Corp. Independent Trading Group Mining Discovery Power Nickel The National Investor The Prospector Western Alaska Minerals
* * *
Support GATA by purchasing Stuart Englert’s “Rigged”
“Rigged” is a concise explanation of government’s currency market rigging policy and extensively credits GATA’s work exposing it. Ten percent of sales proceeds are contributed to GATA. Buy a copy for $14.99 through Amazon:
Inspector general questions origin of gold used by U.S. Mint
Submitted by admin on Sun, 2024-12-29 14:45 Section: Daily Dispatches
By Paul Gilkes Coin World, Sidney, Ohio Saturday, December 28, 2024
During its most recent audit of the United States Mint’s processes and control over gold bullion acquisition for bullion and numismatic programs, the Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General found “that the Mint cannot ensure most gold coins produced are minted from newly mined U.S. gold in compliance with the Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985 and the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005.”
In its semi-annual report to Congress, covering April 1 through Sept. 30, 2024, OIG auditors noted the compliance issues were the result of “the mint’s lack of documentation from its gold refiners certifying the amount of newly mined U.S. gold acquired. We also found it questionable whether the mint’s methodology used to determine what constitutes newly mined U.S. gold is permissible under current U.S. law and that the mint’s website represented certain gold coins as minted entirely from U.S. gold, which may mislead purchasers.” …
ANDREW MAGUIRE AND ALASDAIR MACLEOD//LIVE FROM THE VAULT 204
end
5 B GLOBAL COMMODITY ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL//FREIGHT/COMMODITIES: COMMODITY
6 CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS
END
ASIA TRADING TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 56.28 PTS OR 1.63%
//Hang Seng CLOSED UP 18.53 PTS OR 0.09%
// Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 386.62 OR 0.74%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 0.89%
//Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) CLOSED DOWN TO 7.3408 CHINESE YUAN OFFSHORE CLOSED DOWN TO 7.3407// Oil UP TO 71.22 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT DOWN AT 73.91 Stocks in Europe OPENED MOSTLY GREEN
ONSHORE USA/ YUAN TRADING AT LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN WEAKER
1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS TUESDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED DOWN AT 7.3408
OFFSHORE YUAN: DOWN TO 7.3407
SHANGHAI CLOSED CLOSED DOWN 56.28 PTS OR 1.63%
HANG SENG CLOSED CLOSED UP 18.53 PTS OR 0.09%
2. Nikkei closed DOWN 386.62 PTS OR 0.74%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL MOSTLY GREEN
USA dollar INDEX UP TO 107.95 EURO FALLS TO 1.0395 UP 33 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: FALLS TO. +1.070 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 157.53…… JAPANESE YEN NOW FALLING AS WE HAVE NOW REACHED THE RE EMERGING OF THE YEN CARRY TRADE AGAIN AFTER DISASTROUS POLICY ISSUED BY UEDA
3c Nikkei now ABOVE 17,000
3d USA/Yen rate now well ABOVE the important 120 barrier this morning
3e Gold UP /JAPANESE Yen UP CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: DOWN OFFSHORE: DOWN
3f Japan is to buy INFINITE TRILLION YEN worth of BONDS. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion USA
Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and NOW they will have OVER 50% of all Japanese debt.
3g Oil UP for WTI and DOWN FOR UP this morning
3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund YIELD DOWN TO +2.3645 Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 3.520 //SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 3.068
3i Greek 10 year bond yield DOWN TO 3.195
3j Gold at $2613.25/Silver at: 28.84 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $50.00//AFTER 28.40
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble DOWN 5 AND 31/100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 113.77
3m oil into the 71 dollar handle for WTI and 73 handle for Brent/
3n Higher foreign deposits moving out of China// huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/
JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 CONTINUES NIRP. THIS MORNING RAISES AMOUNT OF BONDS THAT THEY WILL PURCHASE UP TO .5% ON THE 10 YR BOND///YEN TRADES TO 156.53 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 1.070% STILL ON CENTRAL BANK (JAPAN) INTERVENTION//YEN CARRY TRADE IS NOW UNWINDING.
30 SNB (Swiss National Bank) still intervening again in the markets driving down the FRANC. It is not working: USA/SF this 0.9055 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9413 well above the floor set by the Swiss Finance Minister. Thomas Jordan, chief of the Swiss National Bank continues to purchase euros trying to lower value of the Swiss Franc.
USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 4.527 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.736 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.233 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 35.37…
10 YR UK BOND YIELD: 4.620 DOWN 2 PTS
10 YR CANADA BOND YIELD: 3.272 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS
5 YR CANADA BOND YIELD: 2.983 DOWN 6 PTS.
2a New York OPENING REPORT
US Futures Rebound On Last Day Of 2024, Capping Another Stellar Year
Tuesday, Dec 31, 2024 – 08:29 AM
With the Santa rally dead and buried after the S&P saw two back-to-back 1% drops for the first time since August and sending the S&P sliding back under 6,000, US equity futures finally rose on the last day of 2024, setting stocks on course to snap three days of losses and build on this year’s powerful Wall Street rally. As of 8:00am, S&P futures rose 0.3% and Nasdaq futs were 0.4% higher, with all Mag7 stocks higher. European trading was muted, with several markets shut on New Year’s Eve and shortened sessions in London and Paris. 10Y yields extended their drop, sliding 1bp to 4.52% while the Bloomberg dollar index gained, capping the best year for the US currency since 2015. Bloomberg rebounded and oil dropped. The last day of the year has a sparse macro calendar and includes the Case-Shiller and the December Dallas Fed service activity index.
In premarket trading, the Mag7 were higher across the board (Apple 0.4%, Nvidia 0.7%, Microsoft 0.5%, Alphabet 0.5%, Meta Platforms 0.5%, Tesla 1.1%) as pension selling finally faded. Here are some other notable premarket movers:
Acadia Pharmaceuticals shares gain 8.9% in the premarket session after an announcement that the company will replace Independent Bank Group Inc. in the S&P SmallCap 600 before the opening of trading on Jan. 3.
Dave shares are down 7.6% ahead of the bell after the Federal Trade Commission said it referred its federal court case against the cash advance firm to the Justice Department, which has filed an amended complaint in the case.
EHang Holdings ADRs climb 7.6% ahead of the bell after the urban air mobility (UAM) technology platform company gave preliminary revenue for the fourth quarter that topped its forecast.
Sangamo Therapeutics plummet 52% in premarket trading, after Pfizer ended its collaboration and license agreement with the firm to develop a new gene therapy for hemophilia A. Pfizer’s decision comes as a surprise to analysts, who flag the risk of near-term liquidity issues at Sangamo.
Verastem shares rise 37% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the biopharmaceutical company said FDA accepted to review its New Drug Application (NDA) for the treatment of adult patients with recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer.
With stocks set to end 2024 on a positive note, investors have much to ponder according to Bloomberg: some are concerned about the stamina of this year’s 24% S&P 500 rally, driven by the so-called Magnificent Seven cohort of tech giants. And there’s a range of uncertainties to confront in 2025, from Trump’s protectionist policies to the outlook for central bank policy and the health of the European and Chinese economies. Still, up until the Fed’s surprising hawkish pivot- which came once it was clear that Trump and not Kamala would be in the White House – the S&P was on pace for its best year this century. Even with the latest drawdown, stocks are still poised for a stellar 25% return this year, making it three years in the last four that the S&P has risen by more than 20%.
“Investors are in wait-and-see mode,” Noel Dixon, senior macro strategist at State Street Corp., told Bloomberg Television. “We don’t know what the retaliatory effects are going to be and how the Fed is ultimately going to react to those tariffs.”
European stock rose, sending the Stoxx 600 up 0.4% to session high; the CAC 40 and FTSE 100 rose 0.4% while other major markets including Italy and Germany are closed. Energy shares are the best performers as they track oil prices higher while miners also outperform. Here are the biggest European movers:
Galp Energia shares drop as much as 5.9% to a one-month low, after latest drilling results at the Portuguese firm’s Mopane-2A well in Namibia yielded gas condensate. The discovery suggests more exploration could be needed to justify Galp’s first development, RBC says.
Wizz Air shares rose after the airline operator said it expects to return to growth by taking the new Airbus A321NEO deliveries and growing seat capacity by about 20% in FY26, according to a statement.
In Asia, trading was thin because several regional markets including South Korea’s were shut for a public holiday. Japanese markets are closed through Jan. 6. Stocks fell in Australia and mainland China, with those in Hong Kong flat. Chinese equities shrugged off data that pointed to an improvement in both services and manufacturing activity. Investors also showed little reaction to President Xi Jinping’s remark that China’s 2024 economic growth is expected to be around 5%, a target set by policymakers earlier in the year. Meanwhile, in the latest sign of simmering tensions between Beijing and Washington, the US Treasury Department said it was hacked by a Chinese state-sponsored actor through a third-party software service provider.
“Don’t think 2024 GDP growth still matters for markets actually as most have already moved towards faith that the government wants to meet the 5% target,” said Xin-Yao Ng, investment director at abrdn. “Perhaps it’s more to do with manufacturing PMI being below consensus, and within that some components like persistently soft input and output prices continue to suggest deflationary pressure.”
In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was steady, on course for its best year since 2015 in a rally fueled by Trump’s reelection in November and the Federal Reserve’s less dovish policy pivot.
In rates, Treasuries climbed, with US 10-year yields falling 1 bps to 4.52%. Gilts outperform their US peers, with UK 10-year borrowing costs down 3 bps. An index of Treasuries looks set to eke out a small gain for the year, with yields edging lower on Tuesday.
In commodities, gold ticked higher, set for one of its biggest annual gains this century after advancing 27%. Oil reversed an earlier gain after factory activity expanded for a third month in China, the latest evidence of economic recovery in the world’s top crude importer. European natural gas prices rose in anticipation of a halt in Russian flows via Ukraine on New Year’s Day, as a transit agreement between the two nations expires. Gas for February rose as much as 2.2% on Tuesday.
US economic data calendar includes October FHFA House Price Index and S&P CoreLogic home prices at 9am, December Dallas Fed services activity at 10:30am. Fed speaker slate is blank until Jan. 3.
Market Snapshot
S&P 500 futures up 0.2% to 5,972.75
MXAP down 0.1% to 181.96
MXAPJ down 0.5% to 569.61
Nikkei down 1.0% to 39,894.54
Topix down 0.6% to 2,784.92
Hang Seng Index little changed at 20,059.95
Shanghai Composite down 1.6% to 3,351.76
Sensex down 0.2% to 78,111.50
Australia S&P/ASX 200 down 0.9% to 8,159.14
Kospi down 0.2% to 2,399.49
STOXX Europe 600 up 0.1% to 505.53
German 10Y yield little changed at 2.37%
Euro little changed at $1.0417
Brent Futures up 0.5% to $74.38/bbl
Gold spot up 0.3% to $2,615.35
US Dollar Index down 0.19% to 107.92
Top Overnight News
China’s NBS PMIs for December are solid, with manufacturing approximately inline (50.1, down from 50.3 in Nov and slightly below the consensus forecast of 50.2) while non-manufacturing jumps to 52.2 (up from 50 in Nov and solidly above the Street’s 50.2 forecast). RTRS
China’s government pushes for the EV industry to utilize larger amounts of domestic chips as it aims to reduce its reliance on US supply chains (about 15% of EV silicon comes from within China, and Beijing wants to move that number higher). WSJ
China disputed US Treasury claims that it was breached by Chinese-backed hackers in a “major cybersecurity incident.” The intrusion, through third-party provider BeyondTrust, allowed access to certain workstations and unclassified documents. BBG
South Korea’s inflation overshoots the consensus on a headline basis in Dec (+1.9%, up from +1.5% in Nov and above the consensus forecast of +1.7%) while core cools to +1.8% (down 10bp from +1.9% in Nov and slightly below the Street’s +1.9%). WSJ
A South Korean court issued an arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over insurrection allegations. His lawyer plans to file for an injunction. BBG
EV sales are expected to tumble in 2025 as Trump ends the current $7500 tax credit (the US EV industry sold ~1.3M units in 2024, but that number may only be 1M in 2025). Barron’s
Active equity funds suffered record outflows of ~$450B this year while more than $1T was pushed into ETFs as investors continue to shift to passive strategies. FT
2B) EUROPEAN REPORT
2C ASIAN REPORT
3B NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
end
3C JAPAN
end
3D. CHINA/
China Orders Largest Military Build-Up Since 1930s Germany; Report
MONDAY, DEC 30, 2024 – 08:30 PM
According to a report by a national security expert, the People’s Republic of China has ordered the largest military build-up of any nation in the world since Germany in the 1930s, raising concerns about the military threat presented by China.
As Eric Lendrum reports for American Greatness, the claims were made in an article in The Federalist written by Chuck DeVore, the chief national initiatives officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. DeVore points out that while the American military has spent over $5.4 trillion on wasted wars such as the “War on Terror” and subsequent attempts at “nation-building,” China has been strengthening its military.
“China is engaging in an unprecedented military build-up that the world frankly hasn’t seen since Adolf Hitler in the 1930s,” said DeVore in an interview following the publication of his article.
“They’re massively building up their nuclear arsenal. We expect it to expand to at least 1,000 warheads by 2030, only five years from now. Probably going to be bigger than that,” DeVore explained.
“The Chinese Navy, not by tonnage, but by numbers is now larger than the U.S. Navy. China has something like 250 times the ship building capacity that America does.”
Among other expansions, China has increased the arsenal of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) by 50 new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), bringing the new total to around 400.
The Department of Defense (DOD) also reports that 300 more medium-range ballistic missiles and 100 long-range cruise missiles have also been added.
China currently has over 600 operational nuclear warheads, and is expected to increase that total to over 1,000 by the year 2030.
Whereas the outgoing Biden Administration has taken a much softer stance on China, President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to crack down on China, both in terms of trade and military ambition.
The country’s most recent build-up efforts may be in anticipation of the expected challenges of a Trump presidency that will not let China get away with as much as it did under Biden.
END
4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS
5 RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
END
ISRAEL/USA/HOUTHIS//YEMEN
ISRAEL/USA/HOUTHIS//YEMEN
another ballastic missile fired from Yemen.
(JerusalemPost)
Projectile from Yemen intercepted after sirens activated in central Israel
Magen David Adom said that no casualties have been reported so far, but that several people were injured on their way to a shelter.
By CORINNE BAUMDECEMBER 30, 2024 23:18Updated: DECEMBER 31, 2024 03:44
People take cover as siren warns of incoming missile fired from Yemen, near Rehovot, December 30, 2024.(photo credit: YOSSI ALONI/FLASH90)
Sirens sounded across central Israel following a missile from Yemen, which was intercepted before it entered Israeli territory, the IDF announced Monday night.
The IDF said that alarms were triggered out of concerns about falling shrapnel or fragments from the interception.
The attack came after reports of US and UK strikes in Yemen.
The Houthis claimed the incident on Telegram, showing videos of people running to shelters from Israeli social media channels.
The military said that details are still under investigation.
A screenshot of everywhere that sirens were activated in Israel following a launch from Yemen on December 30, 2024. (credit: screenshot)
Only mild injuries were reported
Magen David Adom said that an 18-year-old girl was mildly injured after she was hit by a car on her way to a shelter.
The organization noted that several people were injured on their way to a shelter, and some others were being treated for panic attacks.
Fragments of the ballistic missile were found in Beit Shemesh, KAN News reported.
Monday night’s launch comes after a string of nightly attacks from the Houthis in Yemen, which send millions of Israelis to shelters.
Walla reported hundreds of people were forced to take cover at the Menorah Mivtachim Hall during the sirens that occurred in the middle of a Moshe Peretz concert.
The popular singer began to improvise during the sirens to his song “Tuttim (Strawberries)”, and sang “Houthim (Houthis)” instead, Walla reported.
Last Saturday, Jerusalem was targeted with projectiles from both Yemen and Gaza in less than 24 hours, potentially marking a significant shift in the landscape of the war.
Last week, a missile slammed into Jaffa and injured 16 people.
On Sunday, Hezam al-Asad, a senior-ranking member of the Houthis, wrote in Hebrew in a post on X/Twitter, saying: “As long as children in Gaza are killed every day, Zionists must not sleep.”
Takeoffs and landings were temporarily delayed at Ben-Gurion Airport, but they resumed within the hour.
“Surprises will come soon,” Hezam al-Asad, a senior-ranking member of the Houthis, posted on X/Twitter.
This is a developing story.
end
ISRAEL/USA/HOUTHIS//YEMEN
Israel warns Houthis of consequences for missile attacks at UN Security Council meeting
The US reiterated that it condemned the Houthis’ latest attacks on Israel and supports Israel’s right to self-defense at the UNSC meeting.
By HANNAH SARISOHN, REUTERSDECEMBER 30, 2024 20:03Updated: DECEMBER 30, 2024 22:43
A general view of the United Nations Security Council during a meeting on “Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,” at the UN headquarters in New York, US, May 4, 2023.(photo credit: REUTERS/DAVID ‘DEE’ DELGADO)
The US called on the UN Security Council to respond to Iran’s “flagrant violations” of its resolutions to arming terrorist groups, and implored members with direct channels to Tehran to press its leaders to stop the Houthis from launching attacks that put civilians in harm’s way.
“It is past time for the Houthis to cease their reckless and destabilizing behavior, and this council should ensure that there are consequences for their actions,” the US said on Monday during the UNSC’s emergency session on the threat of the Houthis.
The session followed last week’s petition from Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to convene the meeting.
“The Houthis have also taken hostages, including UN workers. I call on all countries who seek global stability to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization,” Sa’ar said on Monday.
“It’s time for the international community to take action to counter the Houthis’ aggression.”
Newly recruited fighters who joined a Houthi military force intended to be sent to fight in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, march during a parade in Sanaa, Yemen December 2, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/KHALED ABDULLAH)
Houthis’ latest attacks on Israel
The US reiterated that it condemned the Houthis’ latest attacks on Israel and supports Israel’s right to self-defense, a statement also supported by the United Kingdom.
While the UK said, “Iran bears responsibility for the actions of its proxies,” it also said Israeli action must be consistent with international humanitarian law.
The UK added that it is concerned by Israel’s strikes on Yemeni civilian infrastructure, including Thursday’s strike on Sana’a’s airport, in which three people were killed and 16 were wounded.
UNSC members, including South Korea, Ecuador, Japan, France, and Switzerland, echoed the condemnation of the Houthis’ attacks on Israel, while also raising concern over Israel’s attack on the airport.
South Korea said that while Israel had its own reasons for responding to the Houthis, it must not hinder humanitarian assistance.
“Further escalation will only deepen the crisis,” South Korea said.
Japan, condemning the Houthis, said the group has to realize its conduct is not helping the Palestinians as it claims to.
Japan also said the Security Council cannot turn a blind eye to the amount of weapons the Houthis have in their possession.
The Russian Federation, meanwhile, ignoring its relationship with Tehran, said violence is on the rise, and the Security Council shouldn’t “dismiss the broader context,” as many hotspots of tension are provoked by Israel’s actions against the Palestinians.
While Russia did condemn the Houthis’ attacks in northern Israel and in Jaffa, it made no mention at all of Iran.
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, described how the Houthis attacked the school he attended in his hometown.
“It’s time the world wakes up,” Danon said, noting Iran was the elephant in the room. “Iran’s fingerprints are on every missile, every drone.”
Danon issued on Monday what he called a “final warning” to the Houthis to halt their missile attacks on Israel, saying they otherwise risked the same “miserable fate” as Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad if they persisted.
He also warned Tehran that Israel has the ability to strike any target in the Middle East – including in Iran – and that Israel would not tolerate attacks by Iranian proxies.
The Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli fire in Gaza.
“To the Houthis, perhaps you have not been paying attention to what has happened to the Middle East over the past year. Well, allow me to remind you what has happened to Hamas, to Hezbollah, to Assad, to all those who have attempted to destroy us. Let this be your final warning. This is not a threat. It is a promise. You will share the same miserable fate,” Danon told the UNSC.
Speaking before the meeting, Danon told reporters: “Israel will defend its people. If 2,000 km. is not enough to separate our children from the terror, let me assure you, it will not be enough to protect their terror from our strengths.”
end
ISRAEL HOUTHIS LATE TUESDAY MORNING
IDIOTS!
Houthis claim to ‘hit’ Jerusalem power station, Ben-Gurion Airport
The Houthis made their claims after the IDF announced the IAF had intercepted a Houthi missile before it reached Israeli territory late on Monday night.
The Iran-backed Houthi terror group in Yemen claimed on Tuesday morning that they “successfully hit” Ben-Gurion International Airport and a power station in Jerusalem – despite the IAF intercepting the Houthi attack.
The terror group also claimed to have thwarted a US attack with an aerial launch.
The Houthis made their claims after the IDF announced the IAF had intercepted a Houthi missile before it reached Israeli territory late on Monday night. Sirens were sounded so civilians could seek shelter from potential shrapnel resulting from the interception.
During the attack, takeoffs and landings were temporarily delayed at Ben-Gurion Airport, but they resumed within the hour.
People take cover as siren warns of incoming missile fired from Yemen, near Rehovot, December 30, 2024. (credit: YOSSI ALONI/FLASH90)
The attack came after reports of US and UK strikes in Yemen.
Several injuries, none from the missile attack
Magen David Adom (MDA) said that an 18-year-old girl was mildly injured after she was hit by a car on her way to a shelter.
The organization noted that several people were injured on their way to a shelter, and some others were being treated for panic attacks.
CORINNE BAUM and SHIR PERETS contributed to this report.
END
YEMEN/HOUTHIS/USA/GR BRITAIN
US says it hit Houthi sites throughout Yemen in strikes today and yesterday
The US Central Command says its forces conducted multiple strikes against Houthi targets earlier today and yesterday in Sana’a and coastal locations within territory controlled by the rebels in Yemen.
US Navy ships and aircraft targeted a Houthi command and control facility and advanced conventional weapon (ACW) production and storage facilities that included missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV), CENTCOM says.
These facilities were used in Houthi operations, such as attacks against US Navy warships and merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, according to CENTCOM.
In addition, US Navy and US Air Force aircraft destroyed a Houthi coastal radar site and seven cruise missiles and one-way attack UAVs over the Red Sea, CENTCOM says, adding that there were no injuries or damage to US personnel or equipment.
After declaring Jabalya nearly cleared, IDF kills dozens of Hamas members.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBDECEMBER 31, 2024 03:13Updated: DECEMBER 31, 2024 03:25
IDF soldiers in northern Gaza Strip conducting operation in the area of the Indonesian Hospital, where a Hamas launch site was located.(photo credit: IDF SPOKESMAN’S UNIT)
The IDF said on Monday it killed dozens of Hamas members in Jabalya – just one day after it said the terror group was nearly cleared out of northern Gaza.
It also announced that Sgt. Uriel Peretz, 23, from Betar Illit, was killed in fighting in Beit Hanun, adding that in the attack, three soldiers from the 97th Battalion in the Kfir Brigade were critically wounded.
According to the military, locating and killing the terrorists was made possible by a mix of ongoing intelligence collection, operations to trick the men into an ambush, and both tank fire and gunfire.
The IDF invaded Jabalya in October 2023, again this past May, and then again in October.
By December 2023, the IDF declared Jabalya under operational control and that Hamas’s battalions were broken down.
In an operation carried out last week, IDF forces completed their mission to thwart terrorism in the Indonesian hospital area. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
Is military intelligence incorrect?
After the May invasion, the IDF said it destroyed 12 km. of Hamas tunnels and killed between 300-500 terrorists, leaving the area relatively clear.
After several weeks of operations in Jabalya starting this October, the IDF again said most of the terrorists there were cleared.
That was true until Friday and Sunday when the IDF said it had killed dozens more terrorists and arrested over 200. The IDF again said Jabalya was essentially cleared.
Monday’s announcement, while a positive tactical sign of progress against Hamas, suggested that military intelligence is consistently wrong about how many Hamas fighters remain in a given area like Jabalya. Part of the reason for this could be the large number of Palestinian terrorists who fake being unarmed civilians most of the time.
Another could be that Hamas continues to successfully recruit adolescents and minors, who have very little to do with their time and are battered by over a year’s worth of strikes, along with an unprecedented number of those whose families and friends have been killed by the IDF.
The IDF also said it believes and hopes that the recent rocket fire from northern Gaza was Hamas rushing to clear out its last inventory of rockets from the area before the military bears down on them. However, to date, the IDF has not been able to fully stop rocket fire from Gaza.
After multiple small rounds of rockets were fired over the last week, Hamas fired a rocket from central Gaza into open fields near Kissufim on Monday.
This failure to clear out Hamas, even just out of one area of the northern half of northern Gaza could be one reason why military sources on Sunday were more forthright about admitting that – if ordered – the IDF would prolong keeping Jabalya cut-off from Gaza City.
Both areas are broadly part of northern Gaza, but Jabalya, along with Beit Hanun and Beit Lahiya, are part of the northernmost half, which has been progressively emptied out of people since early October.
In early October, the IDF evacuated tens of thousands of Palestinians to Gaza City and further south, while large numbers of Hamas terrorists were also killed.
Both due to global criticism and having exhausted the main Hamas areas to attack at the time, the IDF returned to smaller-scale operations against terrorist cells for much of the last two months.
This all comes amid a debate about whether Israel is implementing the “General’s Plan,” proposed by several senior former IDF officials, to empty all of northern Gaza of Palestinians – including civilians – and cut it off completely, as a pressure move against Hamas.
The Biden administration and European allies strongly opposed the plan. Israel has denied that it was adopted at all, but in practice, it seems to have been half-implemented in parts of northern Gaza, while the military allowed some Palestinians to remain in Gaza City.
Kamal Adwan Hospital operations
On Friday, Israeli security forces arrested over 240 terrorists in a targeted operation against Hamas’s latest attempt to reconstitute itself in northern Gaza, largely embedded within the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalya.
The IDF arrested hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya on Sunday. Amnesty International expressed concern about what would happen to him and demanded he be released immediately and unconditionally.
The IDF took credit on Sunday for a commando raid on an underground Iranian missile production facility near the city of Maysaf in Syria in early September. The Jerusalem Post learned of this in late September, but could only confirm after KAN was permitted to publish the information.
That a raid took place – but without Israeli confirmation – was first reported by Axios on September 12. The Post received confirmation of it shortly after.
It appears that Israeli censor and secrecy rules regarding operations in Syria have become more flexible, given the massive increase in IDF operations in Syria since the fall of the Assad regime earlier this month. Information that security officials likely view any threat of retaliation from Syria is likely at a much lower risk level.
The raid targeted two significant sites, which were the Syrian defense industry’s Scientific Studies and Research Center and the underground missile production facility run by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Israel, which had tracked the facility for years, informed the US about the operation in advance. The IDF prepared its plans after it detected that Iran transferred components for a precision missile project into the facility. Israel then decided to address the “growing threat.”
The decision to carry out the strike was believed to be influenced by concerns over the war, along with the potential risk that the Iranian missile factory would begin mass-producing missiles. The weapons were reportedly intended to be used as a supply for Hezbollah.
The operation occurred approximately 200 km. from Israeli territory and was deemed urgent to prevent the facility from reaching full production capacity.
Ambulances transport wounded Palestinians from the Kamal Adwan Hospital to the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, on December 28, 2024. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
France condemns the IDF operations in northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, which wrapped up on Saturday.
“France reminds Israel of its obligation to abide by international humanitarian law, which specifically provides for the protection of hospital infrastructure,” says the Quai d’Orsay in a statement.
Hospitals and staff are protected by International Humanitarian Law, but not if they are used to commit acts harmful to an adversary.
“Given the humanitarian emergency in Gaza, where civilians have been in an unacceptable situation for far too long, France calls on the parties to negotiate an immediate ceasefire without delay,” says the statement.
“This is the only thing that will make it possible to bring in a massive influx of humanitarian aid through all Gaza crossing points, as well as the release of all hostages and the protection of all civilians,” it says
END
END
ISRAEL HAMAS
IMBECILES
(JerusalemPost)
Hamas refusing to release some hostages in Gaza deal negotiations – report
While Hamas has refused to release all the requested 34 living hostages, the terror group has reportedly upped the number of security prisoners it demands released.
A Hamas terrorists in front of hostage posters. (Illustrative)(photo credit: Canva, Hamas Military Wing/Handout via REUTERS, Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
Hamas is reportedly refusing to release 12 of the 34 hostages in the first phase of an alleged deal in the works, instead offering the bodies of 12 killed abductees, a Palestinian source told Israeli state news agency KAN on Monday.
The source claimed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused the release of bodies in the first stage of the deal.
While Hamas has refused to release all the requested 34 living hostages, the terror group has reportedly upped the number of security prisoners it demands released.
Egyptian news channel Al-Ghad reported earlier this month that 11 of the names Israel sent did not meet Hamas’s criteria as the terror organization considered them soldiers. Hamas reportedly only agreed to release the sick, children and the elderly in exchange for 250 security prisoners.
Israelis protest against the government and to show support for the hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly October 7 2023 attack, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel December 14, 2024. (credit: STOYAN NENOV/REUTERS)
Who will be released?
While the names of the 22 hostages Hamas has promised to release have not been made public, the deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, Mousa Abu Marzouk, has previously promised Russia that two Russian citizens would be among the first released.
The two Russian hostages, Alexandre Troufanov and Maxin Herkin, are both being held in Gaza, although Troufanov is by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Hamas made similar promises prior to murdering Russian citizen Alexander Lobanov.
Lobanov’s body was discovered in Gaza in September alongside the bodies of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Carmel Gat, and Ori Danino.
Hamas admitted to killing the six hostages.
AMICHAI STEIN contributed to this report.
END
SAME STORY AS ABOVE
TIMES OF ISRAEL
Hamas said willing to free only 22 of 34 living hostages demanded by Israel in deal
Issue of who would be released in proposed first phase continues to stall agreement; PM said to alarm negotiators with comments on determination to resume war after any deal completed
Demonstrators calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip outside Hakirya Base in Tel Aviv, December 28, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Palestinian terror group Hamas has partially rejected a list of hostages that Israel insists must be released in the first phase of any ceasefire deal, according to a Monday report.
Kan news, citing an unnamed Palestinian source, said Hamas is willing to release 22 of the 34 hostages on the list, but is refusing to agree to the release of the other 12. Instead, the report stated, the group offered to release 22 living hostages and 12 bodies during the first phase of a potential deal.
Israel turned down the notion and made it clear that it would only accept living hostages during the initial stage of a deal, the report added.
The report did not provide further details on the hostages Hamas is reportedly refusing to release. Earlier this month, Egypt’s Al-Ghad outlet reported that Israel requested that 11 men considered by Hamas to be soldiers be included on the list of hostages to be released in the first phase of a potential deal.
The terror group classifies all Israeli men of fighting age to be soldiers.
Another stumbling block reported by Hebrew media is Hamas’s insistence that a proposed deal include the terms for an end to the war. The terror group was reportedly balking at recent remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel would resume fighting after the captives have been released.
A poster showing hostages held in the Gaza Strip, displayed at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, December 22, 2024. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
Israel and the terror group have traded blame for the latest failure to reach an agreement after a burst of renewed negotiations, nearly 15 months after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 people hostage during its October 7, 2023 attack, of whom 96 remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip — including 34 confirmed dead.
Meanwhile, Hamas is insisting on guarantees from mediators that Israel will end the war as a condition for an overall hostage deal, Ynet reported. Though the terror group is not demanding such assurances for the first stage of the envisioned three-phase deal, it does want an end to the war written into the agreement in light of recent remarks by Netanyahu that he intends to continue the fight after a hostage deal is completed, making any truce a temporary one.
During a high-level meeting last week, Netanyahu told those present that Israel will resume fighting after a hostage deal if one comes about, Channel 12 reported Monday.
“If there is a deal — and I hope there will be — Israel will return to fighting afterward. There is no point in pretending otherwise because returning to fighting is needed in order to complete the goals of the war. Saying this does not thwart a deal, it encourages a deal,” Channel 12 quoted Netanyahu as saying.
The network said the remarks sparked fresh concerns among members of the hostage negotiating team, who believe that such comments — especially when made public — have made it more difficult to secure a deal, given that Hamas hopes to reach a permanent ceasefire.
Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Knesset on December 23, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The quote attributed to Netanyahu by Channel 12 was very similar to one attributed to an unnamed senior Israeli official who told the Ynet news site earlier Monday, “Even if Israel agrees to a deal, it will resume fighting afterward in order to complete the goals of the war.”
The senior official was responding to an earlier report by Ynet, which cited senior members of the security establishment warning that Netanyahu’s refusal to plan for the postwar management of Gaza could lead to a scenario in which Hamas fully regains control over the Strip.
Israeli negotiators were also reportedly dismayed by Netanyahu’s statement to The Wall Street Journal this month that he wouldn’t sign a deal that ends the war, and Defense Minister Israel Katz’s statement from Gaza’s Philadelphi Corridor last week that Israel would retain security control of the Strip — seeing both comments as likely to harden Hamas’s position.
Leading figures in the security establishment have long urged Netanyahu to advance a viable alternative to Hamas and have argued in favor of allowing the Palestinian Authority to gain a foothold in Gaza.
Netanyahu has rejected that proposal, likening the West Bank-based PA to Hamas. Though the PA backs a two-state solution, Israel says it has also failed to strongly condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities and supports terror through stipends to terrorists and their families.
Humanitarian aid waiting to be picked up on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom aid crossing in the Gaza Strip, December 19, 2024. (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)
The security official speaking to Ynet said that the political echelon’s failure to advance a viable alternative to Hamas is leading to the gradual rollback of military gains made by the IDF in Gaza.
This week the Health Ministry sent a report to the United Nations on the atrocities that released hostages suffered while in Hamas captivity.
Channel 12 reported Monday that far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who opposes a deal that would end the war, met last week with the families of hostages and told them he couldn’t be sure their loved ones would return alive. Families had requested the meeting in light of Smotrich’s ongoing rejection of a deal, the report said.
When challenged by families that time was running out for the still-living hostages, Smotrich reportedly responded, “I can’t guarantee to you that we will bring them back alive.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting of his Religious Zionist Party at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, December 23, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
During the meeting, Smotrich reportedly also said he was “not prepared to bring back bodies in return for terrorists,” a reference to Palestinian security prisoners who would be released as part of a hostage deal.
Smotrich’s office said in response to the report that “the minister is committed to returning the hostages… alongside war until victory and the destruction of Hamas.”
end
ISRAEL/HAMAS/
IDF, Shin Bet eliminate PIJ northern sector rocket unit commander
Anas Muhammad Saadi Masri had been actively commanding rocket fire from northern Gaza into Israeli border communities since Oct.7 2023.
The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) have killed Anas Muhammad Saadi Masri, the commander of the northern sector of the rocket unit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the IDF confirmed on Tuesday.
“An Air Force aircraft, guided by intelligence from the Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman), the Shin Bet, and the Southern Command, struck and killed Masri earlier this month,” the statement said.
Masri was described as “a significant figure responsible for executing numerous terrorist operations, managing and directing actions by the organization that targeted Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers.”
The statement added that since October 7, Masri had been actively commanding rocket fire from northern Gaza into Israeli border communities. He also oversaw several operatives involved in launching rockets into Israeli territory.
“Prior to the strike, extensive measures were taken to minimize civilian casualties, including the use of precision weaponry, accurate intelligence, and aerial surveillance,” the IDF emphasized.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad supporters participate in an anti-Israel rally marking the 36th anniversary of the movement’s foundation in Gaza City, October 6, 2023. (credit: MOHAMMED SALEM/REUTERS)
“We will continue to strike anyone who promotes or engages in terrorism against Israeli citizens and will work to achieve the objectives of the war,” the IDF concluded.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist partner of Hamas that operates in both the Gaza and the West Bank, is currently holding some of the Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas during the terrorist group’s October 7, 2023 invasion of southern Israel.
In addition to holding hostages and launching attacks on Israel, the terrorist group has began launching attacks against Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank in recent weeks.
END
I
END
ISRAEL//LEBANON
‘Day 61 will be different’: Hezbollah official states group will not tolerate IDF in Lebanon
Hezbollah vows action post-ceasefire if Israel remains in southern Lebanon while warning Lebanese parties not to assist the IDF.
Komati indicated that Hezbollah would return to action against the Israel Defense Force (IDF) if the Israeli army does not withdraw from southern Lebanon, but did not give further details.
In the interview, the former minister of state for parliamentary affairs said that Hezbollah will not allow any local or foreign party to interfere with Hezbollah’s weapons rebuilding program.
The stockpile of rockets, missiles, and drones is still there, Komati highlighted, stating it was Hezbollah’s firing at Tel Aviv that brought Israel to the negotiating table.
“Hezbollah welcomes any initiative from any country that intends to help Lebanon implement the reconstruction program without political preconditions,” Komati added.
Hezbollah weapons and equipment seized by IDF soldiers during extensive operations in southern Lebanon. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
The Hezbollah official also warned that certain political parties in Lebanon were aiding and abetting Israel to the detriment of the country and called on the Lebanese to desist from doing so.
“Some of them provided the enemy with data about certain institutions, like Al-Qard Al-Hasan Association,” Komati stated. “Is this the proper way to build the nation?”
Komati highlighted that Hezbollah backs the selection of a new president in Lebanon, noting the shift in the stance of those who once insisted on convening parliament but are now advocating for a delay in the voting session.
The Hezbollah representative further emphasized that the party still seeks respectful relations with Arab nations, aiming to avoid any political provocations.
Tuesday marks day 34 of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, signed on November 27. Under the deal, Israel must withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah must withdraw to north of the Litani River and some 5,000 regular Lebanese Army troops are to be deployed to ensure compliance.
Severed supply line
The fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria earlier this month has led to a severe disruption in the supply lines through the country, which allowed Hezbollah to attain weapons, munitions, and supplies from Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
New Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem acknowledged for the first time two weeks ago that Hezbollah has lost its most critical supply route from Iran through Syria, revealing how the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime has hindered the group’s capacity to rearm following a significant Israeli offensive.
Syria, under Assad, served as Iran’s most vital state ally in its network of regional militias and political organizations across the Middle East, including Hezbollah. It was also a crucial geographic corridor facilitating the transfer of weapons and supplies from Iran to Lebanon, enabling Hezbollah to act as Iran’s forward presence against their mutual adversary, Israel.
The situation of Syria is like the chaos of Libya but there are many more actors (local and external) operating, making it difficult to foresee what will happen…
It is naive to assume that the current regime in Syria will remain in place – as it is – going forward…
Syria is now in a state of uneasy transition and the political-military situation will remain in flux as long as the conflicts between the various armed and civic groups are not resolved.
We have seen during the age of the Arab uprisings that the collapse of a regime does not necessarily produce a stable or a democratic government. In Tunisia, the democratic transition was concluded when the current president decided to exclude the Islamists from power and to rule as a despot.
In Egypt, the UAE and Saudi regimes helped install a military government headed by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to end the elected rule of the Muslim brotherhood. The conflicts in these countries are not purely the outcome of internal developments, but often reflect regional conflicts, conspiracies and competition.
Turkey and Qatar support the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, while Saudi Arabia and UAE support their ouster and exclusion from government. This will be central in understanding what comes next in Syria.
Israel and the U.S. are close to the Saudi-UAE camps but are also close to Qatar; and the Muslim Brotherhood seems to work well with the U.S. and even avoid pushing a radical line against Israel.
June 16, 2012: Street in Cairo during second round of presidential elections, which Muslim Brother’s candidate Mohamed Morsi won. (Jonathan Rashad, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt did not attempt to abrogate the peace treaty with Israel and even allowed the continuation of the military-intelligence coordination with Israel.
Furthermore, after a meeting at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) in Washington, Rashid Ghanoushi, head of the Islamists of Tunisia, complied with U.S. wishes and froze a push in the Tunisian parliament to criminalize normalization with Israel.
Syria is a more complex political and military situation for several reasons.
The U.S. maintains an occupation of sizable territory in Syria. Whenever the U.S. keeps troops in a country that operates outside the control of the local government, that the country (or a chunk of it at least) is under U.S. occupation.
In Iraq, the U.S. maintains a few thousand troops, but it continues to wield tremendous influence over the government and rejects parliamentary calls for the withdrawal of those troops.
We learned in recent weeks that the size of the U.S. military force in Syria is double what the public has been told, and the presence even of a small military contingent requires a sizable military suppor force in the region.
The U.S. is not only fighting ISIS (while the U.S. does not give a timetable or a roadmap for its unending fight against ISIS) but it also provides support for militias that are under its control in Syria.
The U.S. preaches state monopoly of the use of force in the Middle East except where U.S. surrogate militias operate in a country.
Turkish & Israeli Roles
Turkey has a strong military presence in Syria and — like the U.S. — can easily influence developments on the ground, making things easier or more difficult for whatever government that may arise in Syria. Turkey’s military and intelligence intervention was key to the ouster of Bashar Al-Assad.
Israel has expanded its occupation of Syrian territory and has been conducting hundreds of bombing raids inside the country after the collapse of the regime. Like the other actors, Israel wants to shape the orientation and policy of the future government and seeks to prevent a radical or democratic regime from emerging.
The regional conflict has not been decisively resolved yet.
So far, the Turkish-Qatari-Israeli-U.S. axis has scored major successes in Syria (thanks to their support or indulgence of the former Al-Qa`idah militia which now runs the country) but Russia and Iran may still try to either take revenge or enhance their regional power status.
Russia lost a major strategic military presence inside the country, while Iran lost the direct link to Hizbullah, which passed through Syria.
More than in the cases of Tunisia and Egypt, there are many militias operating in Syria, and they all have external sponsors. Outside powers will be involved in the formation of the new government in Syria.
The situation of Syria is like the chaos of Libya but there are many more actors (local and external) operating there.
Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan in September 2023. (Sergey Guneev, RIA Novosti, President of Russia)
The Six Scenarios
While it is not clear how the local and regional conflicts will affect the emergence of a new and potentially stable government in Syria, it is possible to consider these scenarios.
1. Libyan Model
Syria may very well follow the example of Libya. Like Libya, the regional conflicts between those who support the Islamists and those who abhor them may play out for many years to come.
The Obama administration promised with great excitement a new democracy in Libya and an end to tyrannical rule after the NATO assault in 2011.
In Syria, the various Islamist militias have a history of bloodshed that may not end just because Hay’at Tahrir Sham (HTS) has taken control of the central government — at least formally.
The size of the new government’s militia is not large and it may face military challenges from various fronts. If Syria were to follow the scenario of Libya, it would mean that Russia, Turkey, Qatar, UAE and the U.S. will all be involved. It would also bring in Israel, which harbors keen interest in establishing a client regime in Damascus.
The massive Israeli bombing of Syria since Assad’s fall was intended to demolish Syria’s military infrastructure and intimidate the new government. HTS quickly signaled it has no agenda against Israel, and does not concern itself—not even verbally—with the aim of liberating Syrian territory from Israeli occupation.
The potential for disintegration and fragmentation is particularly high because Syria is far less homogeneous (ethnically and religiously) than Libya. The crackdown by the new government against Alawites has triggered outrage and calls for self-defense in the Alawite region.
2. Military Coup
The UAE and Saudi Arabia may very well arrange for a military coup to install a client military despot, like Sisi in Egypt.
The UAE was instrumental in the Egyptian coup of 2013 and its media have been alone in expressing alarm regarding the new regime in Damascus. After all, the UAE’s ruler was in close contact with Assad to the very end and was steering him away from Iran and the “axis of resistance.”
In fact, since Assad’s rapprochement with the UAE began he had been restricting the movement and activities of Iranian and Hizbullah military officers. This coup scenario would work to establish a regional alliance of republican despotic regimes tied to the Saudis and the Emiratis.
Of the two, the UAE has thus far been more successful in imposing its political and military will in Somalia, Yemen (south), Libya, Sudan (with the RSF) and Egypt.
An installed military regime could easily be integrated into the Abraham accords once the Saudis reach agreement with Israel on a peace treaty. The problem with this scenario is that the UAE is the chief opponent of the Muslim Brotherhood in the region that wields influence in Syria.
That would mean imposing brute force against them just like in Egypt, which had been the Brotherhood’s base before and after the fall of Hosni Mubarak.
3. Democracy
Voting in the 2021 Syrian presidential election. (Habib Kamran/Wikimedia Commons)
The new government would heed the call of many Syrians and begin a transitional period in which free elections are held and a new constitution is drafted. That would lead to the formation of a democratic government, something that Syria has not experienced since the 1950s when the democratic order was very flawed and subject to outside intervention and manipulation.
This democratic scenario would alarm both Israel and the U.S. who are keenly aware that people— left to their own devices – -would not necessarily serve Western and Israeli interests. Despotic rule is always preferable to the West and Israel. The U.S. hasn’t yet lifted its cruel sanctions against the Syrian people (though it did lift the $10 million bounty on the HTS leader’s head) because Washington can use it to blackmail any future Syrian government.
4.HTS Dictatorial Rule
The HTS would monopolize political power and rule alone disregarding demands for wider representation. Such a scenario would alarm religious minorities and women given the ideological origins of the new rulers. The U.S. and Israel may favor this scenario if the alternative is an uncontrollable democracy near Palestine.
5. Syria Breaks Up
Syria could lose its territorial integrity and become a patch of semi-independent, sectarian enclaves where the Druze would govern their own province, and the Alawites and Kurds would do the same ad so on. This scenario would be too alarming for Turkey, which is willing to use military force to crush an independent Kurdish statelet inside Syria.
The West and Israel would favor such an outcome; after all, Joe Biden and Antony Blinken advocated dividing Iraq into three enclaves after the American invasion of 2003. If this scenario arises, Northern Lebanon (Tripoli and Akkar) may ask to join the Sunni enclave.
6. Restoration
The least likely scenario entails the restoration of the old regime with the assistance of Iran and Hizbullah. Members of the “axis of resistance” are furious at Assad for abandoning power so quickly; they are also outraged over revelations of his close coordination with the UAE to distance Syria from Iran.
Iran and Hizbullah have been weakened and won’t risk their forces to defend the ousted regime if Assad indicated he wanted to return. Their intervention in Syria on his behalf would trigger Israel targeting them.
It is most difficult to predict the political future of Syria. It has never been an easy country to govern and the nightmarish experience of living under the Assad regime for decades embittered many Syrians.
But the ideology the new rulers of Syria brings is too alien to a society that is diverse and has a history of secularist tendencies. There are many claimants to power inside the country, and a multiplicity of outside powers who want a piece of Syria (figuratively or literally).
Whatever happens, the next phase will not be peaceful.
Leana Wen – the former Baltimore Health Commissioner who burst onto the scene during the Boston Marathon Bombing – only to recommend forcing the unvaccinated to remain indoors during the COVID pandemic – is now pushing the Biden administration to expedite the approval of a bird flu vaccine before Donald Trump’s inauguration.
During a Sunday interview with CBS News‘s “Face the Nation,” Wen said “There are two main things they should be doing in the days that they have left,” adding “The first is to get testing out there… we should have learned out lesson from Covid that just because we are not testing, it doesn’t mean the virus isn’t there.”
Wen then said that the “second very important thing” is that the Biden administration work to secure FDA authorization for the widespread use of bird flu vaccine, adding that Trump has “people coming in with anti-vaccine stance.”
The H5N1 vaccine is awaiting FDA approval, as several manufacturers have been lined up to crank out almost 5 million doses.
“There’s research done on it. They could get this authorized now, and also get the vaccine out to farm workers and to vulnerable people,” said Wen.
Wen’s comments come after a handful of housecats and livestock died of the virus – leading California to declare a state of emergency, and one man was hospitalized with a severe case that was found to be a mutated version.
There has been no evidence of human-to-human spread, though we’re sure the Wuhan alumni can fix that.
over-cycled, non-pandemic based on lies of asymptomatic transmission (we still cannot find one case), lie of equal risk of severe outcome despite differences in baseline risk, lie of recurrent
infection (no instances pre-Omicron) and gross fraud and lie by CDC, NIH, FDA, HHS etc. that natural exposure immunity was inferior to vaccine induced immunity. I challenge anyone today, any health official, any scientist or doctor to give us one proven case where OWS lockdowns or the Malone Bancel et al. mRNA transfection vaccine saved one life, just one.
Just one.
Alexander News Network (ANN): Trump’s War 2.0 for America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
It was all a lie, and we the people were savaged by the lies, where there was a transfer of 5 trillion $ from the poor to the already rich.
POTUS Trump was lied to and he was misguided and was fooled and he made catastrophic mistakes. We paid the price and still are. It is way past time that he knows the lockdowns and OWS and the mRNA vaccine failed and is and was deadly. He knows.
The time is now for him to come clean and stand up. To stop praising OWS and the mRNA vaccines for they killed. It was no success.
All who are silent today with their sellout assess prostrated up in the air for Trump admin jobs know, they know how deadly OWS, and the mRNA vaccine is and was. But they would sell their own mother for a job.
I call on Robert Kennedy Jr. to set the stage and do the right thing. To signal to all those around him sucking up and begging for jobs, that it is ok to speak the truth and stand for what is right. You too Bobby Jr., it is time you emerged from your imposed silence, tell those who did that to you to fuck off, and speak the truth. It will save lives.
Your credibility is waning, and I do support you and admire your life work. The arc. I do know too you are angry that you were silenced. It is up to you to demonstrate the man you are. The integrity you have. And that you cannot be bought. It is incomprehensible you went silent when you did, while CDC says infants still to be vaccinated and you have the CHD still running. Makes no sense. Again, huge respect and praise. But this stinks to high heavens.
‘Richet found that the state of anaphylaxis sets in after a period of 2-3 weeks (it can vary), and depending on the initial toxin/protein, the sensitization state may last from weeks to years, and possibly be permanent. At the time that he wrote the book, he mentioned that in people anaphylactic/allergenic state was observed up to 6 years, but it may be permanent. Do you see now, why most vaccines are delivered in at least 2 doses, and they are separated by at least 21 days? They want to see if they induce severe anaphylaxis (i.e. life threatening kind).’
Trump Reacts to Jimmy Carter’s Death with Heartfelt StatementPresident-elect Donald Trump on Sunday said the nation owes former President Jimmy Carter “a debt of gratitude.”In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the 39th president, who died Sunday at the age of 100, served the nation during a crucial time.“Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very …READ THE FULL REPORT
Musk Appears to Soften Pro-Foreign Worker, H-1B Visa Stance Amid Online SpatTesla billionaire and X owner Elon Musk appeared to soften his stance on H-1B visas on Saturday night after saying he’d “go to war” for the visas, amid an ongoing online spat over immigration and the tech industry.Tensions erupted between wealthy members of the tech world, including Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for what they describe …READ THE FULL REPORT
Jet carrying 181 people crashes while trying to land in South Korea –A boeing Jet carrying 181 people crashed while trying to land at Muan International Airport in South Korea. The airplane veered off the runway and ran into a fence. as you can see from the photos, it doesn’t look good. So far 28 have died in the crash. WATCH: Smoke rising after Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashes in South Korea …READ THE FULL REPORT
Police Killed Man in His Home During Late-Night Search Warrant Raid at the Wrong AddressLondon, Kentucky police officers reportedly tasked with serving a search warrant at a home on 489 Vanzant Road in London two days before Christmas instead apparently attempted to serve the warrant in a late night raid at a house across the street at 11:50 p.m. Monday and ended up killing the man who was residing in 511 Vanzant Road.London is …READ THE FULL REPORT
Read the Emails from ‘Courageous’ Hospital Staffers Who Complained About Free Chick-fil-AEarlier this year, a Minnesota hospital issued a profuse apology to staff after failing to abide by its “values of respect and justice” — by giving out free Chick-fil-A.Staff at Essentia Health in Duluth complained about the free sandwiches available in the St. Mary’s Medical Center’s atrium, an email chain obtained by The Daily Wire shows.“Please spread the word that …READ THE FULL REPORT
MICHAEL EVERY/PHIL MAREY/OR OTHER EXECS //RABOBANK/
7.OIL AND NATURAL GAS ISSUES/GLOBAL
Turkey ready to supply electricity to both Syria and Lebanon
(OilPrice.com)
Turkey Says It’s Ready To Supply Electricity To Syria And Lebanon
Turkey is working to resolve the energy supply issues in Syria and is ready to provide electricity to the country, where Ankara supported the rebels who toppled Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Monday.
“The vast majority of people meet their electricity needs with generators, so there is actually a very serious need for electricity,” Reuters quoted Bayraktar as telling reporters in Turkey.
Currently, Turkey supplies power to some parts of northern Syria. Now Turkey has vowed to help the war-torn country after the 13-year-long civil war.
Turkey is also ready to supply electricity to Lebanon, according to the Turkish energy minister.
A team of Turkish government officials is already on the ground in Syria and has had high-level contacts with the current de facto leader in Syria, the rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The Turkish team has been discussing energy cooperation with Syria and how Syria’s oil and natural gas resources could be used to provide energy, Bayraktar said.
Turkish firm Karpowership, which owns a fleet of floating power plants, told Reuters on Monday that it is being considered as one of the alternatives for providing electricity to Syria.
“There are talks between countries, alternatives are being evaluated. It is too early for us to say anything at this stage,” Karpowership said in a statement to Reuters.
Turkey has also signaled that it wants to take part in the revival of oil and gas production in Syria.
“We are also studying the use of crude oil and natural gas for reconstruction of Syria,” Minister Bayraktar said last week.
“We plan to tell our counterparts how we can make contributions in that sense. Our objective is to develop these projects.”
Bayraktar also said there were plans for new oil and gas pipelines between Syria and Turkey.
8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES//
END
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS TUESDAY MORNING 6;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING
EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.0395 DOWN 11 BASIS PTS
USA/ YEN 156.83 DOWN 0.145 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//END OF YEN CARRY TRADE BEGINS AGAIN OCT 2024/Bank of Japan raises rates by .15% to 1.15..UEDA ENDS HIKING RATES AND NOW CARRY TRADES RE INVENTS ITSELF//
GBP/USA 1.2533 DOWN .0015 OR 15 PTS
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.4384 UP 0.0034 (CDN DOLLAR DOWN 34 BASIS PTS)
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED DOWN 56.28 PTS OR 1.63%
Hang Seng CLOSED UP 18.53 PTS OR .09%
AUSTRALIA CLOSED DOWN .89%
// EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL MOSTLY GREEN
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: ALL MOSTLY GREEN
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED UP 18.53 PTS OR ,09%
/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 56.28 PTS OR 0.63%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED DOWN .89%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED DOWN 386.62 PTS OR 0.74%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE RED
Gold very early morning trading: 2611.90
silver:$28/89
USA dollar index early TUESDAY morning: 107.95 UP 2 BASIS POINTS FROM MONDAY’s CLOSE.
The USA/Yuan, CNY ON SHORE CLOSED DOWN 7.3284 (ON SHORE)
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (DOWN)…. (7.3283)
TURKISH LIRA: 35.36 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +1.070
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN 2 in basis points from FRIDAY at 4.528% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%)
USA 30 yr bond yield 4.738 DOWN 4 in basis points /11:00 AM
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.223 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS.
GOLD AT 11;00 AM 2614.60
SILVER AT 11;00: 28.91
Your 11:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates: TUESDAY CLOSING TIME 11:00 AM//
London: CLOSED UP 52.01 pts or .64%
German Dax : DOWN 35.18 pts or .28%
Paris CAC CLOSED UP 67.18 pts or 0.92%
Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 58.20 PTS OR .50%
Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 25.20 PTS OR 0.07%
WTI Oil price 71.49 11 EST/
Brent Oil: 74.34 11:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 113.75 ROUBLE DOWN 3 AND 25/100
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.3620 DOWN 0 BASIS PTS.
UK 10 YR YIELD: 4.620 DOWN 3 BASIS POINTS
CDN 10 YEAR RATE: 3.221 DOWN 6 BASIS PTS.
CDN 5 YEAR RATE: 2.961 DOWN 6 BASIS PTS
CLOSING NUMBERS: 1 PM
Euro vs USA 1.036 DOWN 0.0046 OR 46 BASIS POINTS
British Pound: 1.2522 DOWN 0.0026 OR 26 basis pts
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 4.5666 DOWN 3 BASIS PTS//
JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 1.070
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 157.31 UP 0.301 BASIS PTS// HEADING FOR 160 TO THE DOLLAR
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.43.76 UP 0026 BASIS PTS CDN DOLLAR UP 26 BASIS PTS
West Texas intermediate oil: 71.29
Brent OIL: 74.81
USA 10 yr bond yield UP 3 BASIS pts to 4.576
USA 30 yr bond yield UP 2 BASIS PTS to 4.786%
USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 2 PTS AT 4.240
CDN 10 YR RATE 3.251 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS
CDN 5 YEAR RATE: 2.986 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS
USA dollar index: 108.24 UP 31 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 35.37 GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 105.52 DOWN 4 AND 87/100 roubles
GOLD 2,623.50 3:30 PM
SILVER: 28.84 3:30 PM
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: DOWN 29.81 PTS OR 0.07%
NASDAQ DOWN 184.82 PTS OR 0.87%
VOLATILITY INDEX: 17.35 UP 0.08 PTS OR 0.29%
GLD: $242.13 UP 1.50 OR 0.62%
SLV/ $26.33 DOWN .10 OR 0.38%
TORONTO STOCK INDEX// TSX INDEX: CLOSED UP 107.92 PTS OR 0.44%
end
USA AFFAIRS
ZEROHEDGE HEADLINE/TODAY’S TRADING
Stocks Suffer Worst Year-End Run Since ’66 As Stagflationary Fears Loom
II USA DATA
US Home Prices Surge To 17th Consecutive All-Time High
Tuesday, Dec 31, 2024 – 09:12 AM
US home prices in the 20 largest cities rose 0.32% MoM in October (the latest data from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller), considerably hotter than the 0.22% rise expected. However, despite the MoM beat, the pace of annual acceleration has declined to its slowest since Sept 2023…
Source: Bloomberg
So 100bps of rate-cuts prompted a reacceleration in home prices…
…despite surging mortgage rates…
Arguably, (lagged) mortgage rates increased during that period, and dipped since (positive short-term for the highly smoothed and lagged Case Shiller series), but as is clear, things do not end well…
“Our National Index hit its 17th consecutive all-time high, and only two markets – Tampa and Cleveland – fell during the past month,” Brian D. Luke, CFA, head of commodities, Real & Digital Assets, commented.
“The annual returns continue to post positive inflation-adjusted returns but are falling well short of the annualized gains experienced this decade.“
However, home price appreciation does seem to track very closely with bank reserves at The Fed (6mo lag)…
Source: Bloomberg
Which suggests the pace of home price appreciation is set to slow further from here.
END
US Credit Card Defaults Soar To Crisis Highs As Inflation Storm Crushes Working-Poor
MONDAY, DEC 30, 2024 – 04:40 PM
The party is long over for the bottom third of US consumers, as maxed-out credit cards and depleted personal savings have pushed credit card loan defaults to their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
Financial Times cited new data from BankRegData revealing that credit card companies wrote off $46 billion in “seriously delinquent loan” balances in the first nine months of the year—an alarming 50% increase from the same period last year and the highest level in 14 years.
US credit debt recently surpassed $1 trillion and continues to expand rapidly. Making matters worse, annual percentage rates (APRs) on credit card debt have hit record highs, compounding the financial misery for cash-strapped consumers in the era of failed ‘Bidenomics’.
Despite the interest rate cut, the average APR on credit card debt reached a new record at the end of the third quarter.
With the election over, the Biden administration’s Department of Commerce revised personal savings data downward by a staggering $140 billion. In other words, radicals in the Biden administration and far-left Democrats pushed nothing more than economic propaganda.
The head of Moody’s Analytics, Mark Zandi, noted, “High-income households are fine, but the bottom third of US consumers are tapped out,” adding, “Their savings rate right now is zero.”
This collapse in personal savings, combined with insurmountable credit card debt, largely explains why the bottom third of Americans are not only living paycheck to paycheck but also have financially committed suicide with the explosive use of toxic Buy Now, Pay Later services.
“Consumer spending power has been diminished,” Odysseas Papadimitriou, head of consumer credit research firm WalletHub, pointed out.
WalletHub’s Papadimitriou warned, “Delinquencies are pointing to more pain ahead.”
(CNBC) – Heading into the holidays, many Americans were already saddled with record-breaking credit card debt. And yet, consumer spending is set to reach a fresh high this season.
The National Retail Federation reported last week that spending between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 is “clearly on track” to reach a record, between $979.5 billion and $989 billion.
Heading into the peak holiday shopping season, credit card balances were already 8.1% higher than a year ago, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s report on household debt.
Further, 28% of credit card users had not paid off the gifts they bought last year, according to another holiday spending report by NerdWallet, which polled more than 1,700 adults in September.
“No one should be surprised that so many Americans took on debt this holiday season. Prices are still really high and that means that lots of Americans simply didn’t have any choice,” said Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief credit analyst.
Excessive credit card debt means spiking defaults:
(Zero Hedge) – The party is long over for the bottom third of US consumers, as maxed-out credit cards and depleted personal savings have pushed credit card loan defaults to their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
Financial Times cited new data from BankRegData revealing that credit card companies wrote off $46 billion in “seriously delinquent loan” balances in the first nine months of the year—an alarming 50% increase from the same period last year and the highest level in 14 years.
Making matters worse, annual percentage rates (APRs) on credit card debt have hit record highs, compounding the financial misery for cash-strapped consumers in the era of failed ‘Bidenomics’.
Corporations Are In the Same Boat
Corporate debt just hit a record, while leveraged loans and high-yield bonds gained market share.
Stocks Have Historically Bad Breadth
Just a handful of Big Tech stocks like Nvidia and Tesla now dominate the market. The current reading is more extreme than that of the dot-com bubble — after which the NASDAQ fell by 80%
And yet…almost everyone from retail investors to hedge funds continues to pile into stocks:
Housing, Meanwhile, Is Frozen
US home sales are lower than in the depths of the Great Recession:
Plunging sales means fewer salesmen. Expect mass layoffs of realtors in 2025:
Here’s a video about how the formerly bullet-proof Texas and Florida housing markets are “melting down.”
What’s Left To Support The Economy?
Government deficits, of course:
To sum up, everyone is borrowing to get by, and the last man standing is the one who’s supposed to protect the value of the currency. Look out below, and keep stacking.
END
IIIB USA COMMENTARIES RE ISRAEL/HAMAS WAR/ and PERVASIVE ANTISEMITISM/WOKISM
end
iiiC USA COVID //VACCINE ISSUES/IMPORTANT MEDICAL ISSUES
END
FREIGHT ISSUES/USA/
END
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON OR NEWT GINGRICH/TUCKER CARLSON
TUCKER CARLSON INTERVIEWING
KING REPORT
The King Report for December 31, 2024 Issue 7401
Independent View of the News
The dynamics that subtlety started on Thursday and bloomed on Friday intensified on Monday.
Money managers dumped Mag 7/Fangs and related trading sardines. Some did this to rebalance portfolios, others sold on fear that these stocks are grossly overbought and overvalued.
The other dynamic was dumping stocks to buy bonds. This is also a portfolio rebalancing item. Other sold stocks and bought bonds on relative valuation. Some did it as defensive asset allocation.
Energy commodities rallied sharply on coming cold weather (Natgas +16%). Precious metals sank.
Chicago PMI Plummets Near COVID Lows as Small Biz/CEO Confidence Soars This tumble in survey sentiment fits with the overall slump in ‘soft’ data since Trump was elected… which is odd given the small business and CEO – large business – confidence has exploded higher since his election). Does make one wonder just who the local Fed surveys are asking?.. https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/chicago-pmi-plummets-near-covid-lows-small-bizceo-confidence-soars
The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity survey rose to 3.4 in December from -2.7; -3.0 was expected.
@dailychartbook: “Small caps are on a four-year losing streak and having their worst year relative to the S&P 500 since 1998.” @KoyfinChartshttps://t.co/CInqKB8U0o
@Barchart: S&P 500 Market Breadth deteriorating! Fewer than 38% of SPX stocks are now trading above their 100D moving average, the lowest in almost 14 months. https://x.com/Barchart/status/1873871574992138545
@RealEJAntoni: The federal debt has fallen $77 billion over the last 2 days, but only b/c Treasury has simultaneously drained $104 billion from its cash account; sure seems like Yellen is trying to set up her replacement at Treasury for failure – Debt limit kicks in Jan 1 and will almost immediately bite b/c the gov’t is constantly borrowing to pay its bills; an artificially low debt on that date (fed by draining Treasury cash) also sets the borrowing limit artificially low, so extraordinary measures won’t last as long: Leaving a somewhat depleted cash reserve (the opposite of what Yellen inherited, the largest Treasury cash balance ever) will give the next Treasury secretary less flexibility just as bonds yields are rising; and less cash obviously means extraordinary measures run out faster…https://x.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1873563643805335927
“The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seems to live at the expense of everyone else.” – Bastiat
“Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.” – John Maynard Keynes
ESHs traded modestly higher when the Nikkei opened on Monday due to the usual Sunday night buying. Within ten minutes, ESHs fell into negative territory and stayed modestly lower, but sideways, until ESHs eased lower near 22:00 ET. ESHs hit a low of 603.75 at 2:34 ET. Buying for the European open began.
ESHs rose to 6014.24 at 3:02 ET and then traded sideways, in a 6-handle band until they broke down about 15 minutes after the 7 ET US repo market opening.
Persistent selling drove ESHs to a daily low of 5918.25 at 19:23 ET. Conditioned dip buying plus traders playing for the 2nd Hour Reversal boosted ESHs. Manipulation for the 11:30 ET European close and a Noon Balloon moved ESHs higher. ESHs hit 5993.25 at 13:16 ET and then rolled over into a range.
ESHs then vacillated in a 16-handle range, with a slight downward bias, until they broke lower at 15:55 ET. ESHs fell to 5955.00 at 16:00 ET.
Positive aspects of previous session A robust rally after the early tumble in ESHs and stocks materialized. Precious metals sank; USHs rallied 26/32 (at NYSE close), but on defensive asset allocation.
Negative aspects of previous session Fangs/Mag 7 stocks got clobbered; the general market followed them. Energy commodities rallied sharply.
Ambiguous aspects of previous session Will manipulation to game yearend performance trump other dynamics?
First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE Open: Down; Last Hour: Down
Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 5905.63 Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 5940.79; 5869.16
Trump endorses Mike Johnson for House speaker, slams Dems in scathing remark: ‘IT WAS A DISASTER!!!” – “Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man,” the incoming president posted on Truth Social. “He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!”… https://t.co/U5QXeeAcTx
A long battle to name a Speaker of the House would delay the certification of Trump as POTUS.
Today – The major themes on the past three sessions should continue; but there should be a concerted effort to embellish yearend performance. This means there could be aggressive manipulation to lift Mag 7/ Fang stocks and related trading sardines. Absenteeism will be very high.
The direction of stocks will depend on the intensity of those that will try to game performance versus those that want to get their portfolios restructured by the closing bell.
ESHs are -7.25; NQHs -32.00; and USHs +8/32 at 20:10 ET.
Expected Economic Data: Oct FHFA House Price Index 0.4% m/m; Oct S&P CoreLogic 20-City house prices 0.2% m/m & 4.1% y/y
S&P Index 50-day MA: 5942; 100-day MA: 5787; 150-day MA: 5673; 200-day MA: 5548 DJIA 50-day MA: 43,464; 100-day MA: 42,460; 150-day MA: 41,452; 200-day MA: 40,8014 (Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope)
S&P 500 Index (5906.94 close) – BBG trading model Trender and MACD for key time frames Monthly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 5304.59 triggers a sell signal Weekly: Trender is positive; MACD is negative – a close below 5735.66 triggers a sell signal Daily: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 6129.70 triggers a buy signal Hourly: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 6011.82 triggers a buy signal
CBS News journalist says most underreported 2024 story was Biden’s ‘obvious cognitive decline’ Veteran CBS News reporter Jan Crawford dinged news organizations for not thoroughly covering President Biden’s “obvious cognitive decline” this year until it became unavoidable during his disastrous debate against Donald Trump over the summer… https://t.co/8KiZRjTpvv
Biden’s latest on-camera appearance sparks concerns about his declining health President Joe Biden sputtered his way through a nine-minute appearance Sunday night in St. Croix to pay tribute to the late President Jimmy Carter. Biden’s coughing and sluggish delivery reinforced concerns about the 82-year-old president’s declining cognitive abilities… https://trib.al/jRE3ceA
@ChiefTrumpster: So, we apparently need visa workers to teach Americans ENGLISH. (H1-B posts for English teachers in the US!) What a joke. But sure, H1B is about the “best and brightest!”https://t.co/7VAjSa1pX4
Ex-top Chicago Tribune columnist @John_Kass: I worked in the media for 40 years. When I left, it was obvious the media was controlled by Marxists who hated America. They prayed at the left-wing altar of their demigod, the silky liar Obama.
The National Day of Mourning for Jimmy Carter is January 9. US stock markets will be closed.
The Global Engagement Center, an office housed within the State Department and aiming to thwart disinformation and misinformation, has been forced by Congress to close up shop. It’s no mystery why; the taxpayer-backed GEC violated its mandate to work only overseas and devolved into a partisan enabler of speech suppression in the United States.
Here’s how…
Founded in 2016 and technically the product of an Obama-era executive order on counterterrorism, the GEC lapsed in December and lost congressional funding. Over the last two years, my investigative reporting in the Washington Examiner as well as that of Racket News journalist Matt Taibbi pulled back the curtain of the GEC’s ties to foreign and domestic NGOs trying to defund news outlets they say peddle disinformation – including RealClearPolitics. My reporting showed that the GEC and the State Department-funded National Endowment for Democracy combined granted almost $1 million to the British Global Disinformation Index, which created a blacklist of U.S.-based websites that published content it determined to push “adversarial narratives” and then pressured advertisers to shut them down (think the Hunter Biden laptop story and COVID-19 lab leak hypothesis).
The GEC, moreover, was involved with the Election Integrity Partnership, a consortium of left-wing nonprofit groups, universities, and federal agencies that pressured Twitter and Facebook to remove GOP-aligned content in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. The GEC also bankrolled New York-based company NewsGuard, a “misinformation” tracker that, along with the Global Disinformation Index, has found itself at the center of a lawsuit brought by the Federalist, the Daily Wire, and the State of Texas against the GEC for allegedly funding an unconstitutional “censorship scheme” that suppressed voices on the right.
Taibbi, the former Rolling Stone writer, demonstrated that the GEC pressured social media platforms in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to moderate extensive content, testifying to Congress in March 2023, “We learned Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other companies developed a formal system for taking in moderation ‘requests’ from every corner of government: the FBI, DHS, HHS, DOD, the Global Engagement Center at State, even the CIA.”
In turn, these revelations and others culminated in a high-level pressure campaign in December that resulted in the GEC losing out on a one-year lifeline through a congressional spending package. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy joined President-elect Donald Trump in demanding that House Speaker Mike Johnson – who had initially brokered a controversial deal to allow the GEC to continue to receive more of your tax dollars – remove the pro-GEC provision. Once this powerful trio came out against more GEC funding, the nail was squarely in the coffin. It didn’t help Johnson that conservative lawmakers with clout in Trump World such as Dan Bishop, Trump’s pick for a high-ranking role at the Office of Management and Budget, fervently opposed the bill.
Soon, the bill was dead. And the GEC with it.
As Taibbi and I investigated the GEC, the taxpayer-funded office even circulated internal guidance with the aim of discrediting our reporting and unfairly linking a congressman whom I interviewed to a Russian state news outlet. The saga, first reported by the New York Post, demonstrated the lengths to which the GEC would go to try to save itself from First Amendment scrutiny.
The campaign was wildly unsuccessful. It arguably backfired.
And the congressman who was targeted, Jim Banks, launched a House investigation into the matter – writing in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, “In response to Mr. Kaminsky’s reporting, the State Department sent out press guidance defending its attempted suppression of U.S. news organizations. That guidance misleadingly changes a quote that I sent to Gabe Kaminsky and the Washington Examiner criticizing the GEC.”
“The intentional misquotation gives the impression that I had been speaking with a Russian propaganda outlet,” the Indiana Republican wrote to Blinken in the recent letter. A watchdog group then filed a Freedom of Information Act request for more details on the internal memo. And Darrell Issa, who had helped lead the charge in investigating the GEC for its ties to apparent censorship, also wrote a letter to Blinken pressing for the GEC to close its doors over “the outright censorship of Americans by the State Department under your tenure.
“By smearing anyone who disagrees with it as a Russian stooge, this network conflates U.S. citizens with a U.S. adversary, as State Department talking points did to my colleague Representative Jim Banks and the award-winning journalists Gabe Kaminsky and Matt Taibbi in a scheming sleight of hand that ruled out of bounds political opinions and fact-based reporting it opposed but cannot refute,” Issa, a California Republican and senior House Foreign Affairs Committee member, wrote in a letter to Blinken in September.
While the GEC is no more, the employees who helped lead the office over the years are being reassigned elsewhere in the U.S. government, likely within the State Department, the agency said in a recent court filing.
The GEC’s failure to win reauthorization is a further vindication of our reporting on its seemingly unlawful activities.
But make no mistake: We will be watching to see where the federal officials accused in court of facilitating “one of the most egregious government operations to censor the American press in the history of the nation” end up next on the taxpayers’ dime. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
harveyorganblog.com 
